


Scenario Indigo

by little_jamie_bean



Series: Magic, superpowers, and an overcomplicated universe [1]
Category: Dreamcatcher (Korea Band), ITZY (Band), NCT (Band), SEVENTEEN (Band), Stray Kids (Band), SuperM (Korea Band), TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band), TREASURE (Korea Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Families of Choice, Gang ATEEZ, Gang NCT, Gang Seventeen, Gen, Street Kids TXT, Street kids AU, Vigilante BTS, friendships, jk svt is just a group
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:35:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27619127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/little_jamie_bean/pseuds/little_jamie_bean
Summary: SO FAR NCT, ATEEZ, TXT, SEVENTEEN, BTS HAVE SHOWN UPstay tuned for the others ^^This is just the base story, by the way. There is hardly any storyline. This was made more to introduce people in and to introduce the universe I will write most of my stories in. The next stories will have a proper storyline. Some of these scenarios will have some form of story, but not much, okay? Just a little for fun. Also, I’m 100% new to ao3 idk how to function this new platform lmao. Hint: the important parts on learning about this universe and characters are in bold. Eventually, when the solo stories are out some scenarios can overlap, by the way.
Series: Magic, superpowers, and an overcomplicated universe [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2117352
Kudos: 9





	1. Taeyong found a friend

INTRODUCTION—Taeyong found a friend -[Scenario Number, Scenario Name]

  
Third Person, Taeyong focus -[POV]

_5 years ago -[when]_

_7th April 2015 -[date]_

Although lonely, the abandoned warehouse was a nice place to settle. It was built in a flat plain near the mountains, much of the land covered in long grass. Long roads stretched out into the distance, past the mountains, to the city. There were many roads coming to large flat asphalt patches. 

An hour or so of exploring to ensure this place was really, truly abandoned and safe to stick around let him discover that this place was probably a place where trucks and other vehicles to stop, pick up goods, leave some, and take them to the city, or whatever lies beyond the mountains. 

This place... It looks wrecked. There’s no way there’s anyone using this. Many objects were broken. Some stuff still lay around, only a little, but still there. 

The room he stood in was huge— Bigger than a school hall. The roof was very high, with industrial lamps dotting the ceiling. There was a second floor— Sort of loft-like, it had a neat viewing deck all around, letting the people on the second floor peer down at the business below. There were small offices, and large empty rooms. Those could make good bedrooms, if he ever needed extra bedrooms— perhaps he’ll find more kids like himself, who ran away from the facility, and exiled from society. They would need a home— He has plenty of space. 

The majority of stuff left behind was furniture. The sort that came in a box and had to be built. Bed frames, desks, chairs, it’s there.

Taeyong spent the next few days cleaning up the house, assembling furniture, exploring, making the place livable. The city was nearly an hour’s walk away. Getting groceries was such a pain. 

Taeyong had found a large vault in the basement, and after cracking it open, he discovered a huge stash of money inside, along with a fake ID and various valuables, including some new phones still in the box, not recent models, but very much usable. 

The day after he found the money, he figured out how to connect everything up to a solar panel system on the roof. He could cook food and store stuff in the refrigerator, at least. 

Then he went out to buy some groceries. 

Little did he know this simple act would change his life. 

He made the long, long walk over to the city. On the very edge of the city, where pavement met grass, stood a boy. 

There was something about him that caught Taeyong’s eye. 

Maybe it was the fact that it was currently 7am and not a time where teenage boys would usually be out, or maybe it was that they were at a place where absolutely nobody but Taeyong ever went, but anyway, there was something about him. 

Taeyong shrugged it off and continued his long journey to the grocery store. 

Taeyong stopped again.

The boy had a little red-green tag on his ear. 

That means that he was a facility kid. A creator, to be exact, because of the green color of the tag. A small motif of a bird and a moon was on the tag. 

Hmm, wonder what the bird’s about. 

On Taeyong’s own purple and blue tag, there was a motif of a moon and a spider. ** _That was describing his power, the purple and blue coloring being ‘Partial Shapeshifter’, the moon showing that he absorbs energy from the moon to use his power, and the spider, being, well, that he could partially turn into a spider._ **Meaning he could grow spider legs out of his back. Freaky, but yes. 

Taeyong would have better understood the tag if it was purple, or blue-purple. Then that would be easy, shapeshifter or partial shapeshifter, and the animal was a bird. 

But it was red-green. **_Green is for creators, being people who create things. Yellow-green means creates attacks. Purple- green means they create defense mechanisms, pink-green means they make ornaments, and red-green means a hybrid._**

**_Hybrid being they create something that can do two or all of the creation categories._ **

Maybe this boy can create birds, that would be red-green as the birds can technically be used as weapons and as ornaments. 

Taeyong got his answer rather quickly. 

The boy reached his hand up and a few shining, glittery canary-looking birds burst out of his fingertips, fluttering around his head before settling back onto his hands. 

He whispered things to the little birds. 

‘I’m so happy I can make more of you guys... It’s been a while. I missed your company.’ He said, smiling fondly at the birds on his fingers, nuzzling one of them with his nose. 

‘Sad that we got separated on the way out. It would’ve been nice if we settled down together, safety in numbers, I guess... But, well, that doesn’t matter anymore, they’re gone already anyway.’ One of the birds flapped its wings in seeming agreement. 

The boy whistled a short tune, sort of bird-sounding. The birds happily chorused back.

One of the birds raised a wing at Taeyong, chirping anxiously at the boy. He turned around, staring at Taeyong with large, alarmed eyes, similar to a deer caught in headlights. He didn’t hear Taeyong coming. 

He pointed a finger at Taeyong and whistled again, the birds flying towards him like bullets, attacking his face. 

‘Agh— Get your birds— off me..!’ Taeyong said frantically, trying to grab the birds and hold them off his face to no avail. 

‘You’ve got to be a threat. You saw me make the birds and you’re going to report me, aren’t you?’ He said, giving a short whistle to the birds, who immediately went to attack his eyes. 

Taeyong let out a pained yell as he squeezed his eyes shut, keeping the prying claws out. 

‘I swear I’m not a threat! I’m not going to go report you!’ Taeyong said in panic, _oh god, he was going to get his eyes clawed out by birds, for something he wasn’t going to do._

‘And how can I know that?’ 

Taeyong fumbled for something in his jacket. He pulled out the pouch he kept his money in, trying to feel around for it. 

He managed to find it. The thin plastic blue-purple tag. He held it up to show the boy. 

‘I would never send anyone back there. It’s like a betrayal to our kind.’ He said, trying to violently shake the birds off his face. 

The boy walked up to him, taking the tag in his own hands. 

‘Blue, purple, moon, spider.’ He said, hand brushing over the slightly worn metal ring at the top that had a cut in it. Taeyong had used wire cutters he found in a workroom to cut it off. 

‘Partial moon spider shapeshifter... Sounds cool.’ He said, waving a hand at Taeyong, the birds flying off to land on his shoulders, one perched on his fluffy long hair. 

Taeyong rubbed at his eyes, blinking them open, quickly squeezing one shut again as a drop of blood dripped into it, turning his vision red and stinging his eye. 

The boy looked at Taeyong, small cuts all over his eye area, some of them even drawing small amounts of blood. 

‘Sorry about your eye.’ He said nonchalantly. 

‘Okay. I can understand why you attacked me though, I would honestly do the same if someone saw me use my powers. Well, as if they’d dare report me, I’ve heard that it looks quite freaky.’ Taeyong said back, wiping at the eye with a wet tissue. 

'Bet it does,' Ten mumbled, fiddling with his tag.

‘Oh! By the way, how long have you been on the run?’ Taeyong said. 

‘Well, I escaped two nights ago with a couple friends but we got separated in the run from the guards. How about you?’ 

‘I’ve been out for two or three weeks now, I found an abandoned warehouse to stay in. I got lucky, there was lots of room and even a hidden vault of money and valuables in the basement. You’re welcome to stay there with me if you don’t already have a better place.’ Taeyong told the boy, noting how he was still wearing the ACF’s [Ability Correctional Facility] pastel yellow shirt underneath a worn jacket, his hair still damp from last night’s rain. 

‘Really?’ 

‘Really.’ 

‘I... I’d love to.’ He said, looking at Taeyong gratefully. 

‘You know, an invitation to live with someone isn't quite what you’d expect after ordering your birds to gouge their eyes out.’ He said with a chuckle. 

‘Well, it’s getting lonely and to be fair, I’m not the best at householdy things.’ Taeyong said. _Well, he’s been managing fine so far. What he needed was someone taller to reach those pesky ceiling cobwebs._

‘Wait here, I’m going to go get some groceries... You shouldn’t tag along, that tag on your ear will attract a lot of attention and we both might end up back in the facility.’ Taeyong said, taking his tag back from the other boy and putting it back in his little pouch. 

‘Oh, and I never got your name.’ 

‘Funny, I didn’t get yours either.’ 

‘Well, I’m Taeyong, how about you?’ Taeyong told the other boy.

’My name’s pretty long, and kind of confusing, so just call me Ten, everyone does.’ Ten said, smiling at Taeyong, the corners of his eyes crinkling a little. 

‘Okay, well bye Ten, I got to go now, but I swear I will be back for you, and please don’t wander off.’ Taeyong told him, a sort of _I mean it_ in his eyes. 

He went to get his groceries, a couple people ogling at his bleeding eyelids, but Taeyong, unfazed, still casually entered the shopping mall, visiting a clothes store first, buying some comfortable, casual clothes, and some slightly more stylish clothes in his size- Ten seemed similar to his size. The cashier looked a little concerned, it's not every day that a random teenager comes wandering into your store with bleeding eyes.

He then took his bag of clothes and left, giving a short nod to the cashier, a habit he picked up from the facility. If you were extra nice and respectful, they treated you better, and Taeyong never wanted to miss out on an extra ladleful of soup or an extra bottle of water.

He then went down to the grocery store to buy some food, mostly non-perishables and stuff you didn't need to store in the fridge- He didn't trust those solar panels very much. 

The cashier, concerned, slipped in a bottle of antiseptic and a box of eye patches. 

‘Thank you.’ Taeyong said, giving a smile and a grateful nod to the cashier.

’No problem, your eye looks hurt so I just put it in,’ she said. 

‘Thank you, have a nice day,’ Taeyong told her, grabbing his bags and leaving. 

‘You too!’ 

Taeyong rushed to find Ten, wow, he _so_ hopes that Ten didn’t wander off. 

However, there was nothing to worry about, Ten was still sitting on the curb, playing with his birds again. 

'Oh, hi, you're back.' Ten said, his birds settling on his shoulders as he walked towards Taeyong.

'Let me help you with those.' He said, taking the bags.

They set off, having a casual conversation on their way home.

When they got home, they loaded the groceries into the refrigerator and cabinet, going upstairs to find the wire cutters.

'It's not much, I only moved in two weeks ago... Didn't have enough time to fully clean the place, let alone fully furnish it.' Taeyong said apologetically, looking specifically at the dusty corners and water stained walls from the shattered window. 

'Well, it's got a roof and walls and that's pretty much all that matters in my book anyway.' Ten said with a shrug, letting his gaze wander over the different nooks and crannies of the warehouse. 

'Not here, not here... Where is the workroom..?' Taeyong muttered to himself, opening and closing doors, echoing creaks filling the mainly empty warehouse. 

'Ah, here it is!' He said to nobody in particular, opening the door to a dusty room with old machines. He looked around, muttering 'wire cutters, wire cutters, where did I put you,' again to himself, as Ten wandered around, following him blindly while staring at the machines, some of them looking like they could work, if they were serviced properly. Not like he could find any use for them, he didn't know how to use a lot of mechanical stuff since he skipped high school when he was sent to the facility. 

'Okay, found them! I'm going to go wash them again, just in case,' Taeyong said, scuttling off to don't-know-where with the wire cutters, water splashing presumably out of a faucet somewhere. Taeyong returned a minute or so later after scrubbing the cutters clean, water splashed down his shirt.

'Hold still, I don't want to accidentally cut your ear.' Taeyong said, reaching up to Ten's tag. Ten was standing very, _very_ still, because from what he inferred looking at Taeyong's water splashed shirt, he wasn't the _most_ careful. 

He was relieved when he heard the little _snip_ without feeling any pain. Taeyong twisted the metal slightly, taking the tag off and handing it to Ten.

'You can do whatever you want to it, maybe keep it or throw it out, it's up to you.' Taeyong told him.

'Thanks, I think I'll keep it.' Ten said with another bright, cheery smile.

'Does this mean I can go out more without suspicion?' Ten asked.

'You also need to lose the ACF uniform, there's a handful of people out there that can recognize it.' Taeyong pointed out.

'Oh yeah- uh- do you have anything I can borrow?' Ten asked shyly. He seems like more of an independent sort. 

'Of course, I bought some clothes for you back there.' Taeyong told him with a smile.

'That's nice of you.' Ten replied.

'Come on, the bathroom is over here, take a shower and change into your new clothes.'

_Fifteen minutes later, Ten came out of the bathroom with his new clothes on._

'Hey, can I help you out with anything around here?' Ten asked, drying his hair off with a towel.

'Yeah, can you help me set up your bedroom?' Taeyong said back, not looking up from the instruction manual on how to build the bedframe. 

'Sure, what do I need to do?' Ten asked, looking at the instruction manual.

'Tell me, are you better at building stuff or are you better at cleaning?' Taeyong said, staring at the manual in confusion.

'I don't know about building, but I suck at and hate cleaning.' Ten replied with a shrug. 'Guess I can try building, I mean, if I screw it up, it's me that has to deal with it anyway.'

He sat down as Taeyong got up to find a broom (which, believe it or not, took five whole minutes) and came back to sweep the whole room, letting a couple spiders escape (he was quite fond of them, 'they're like mini-mes' as he says, which is not, strictly speaking, true, as he is technically a lot more human than spider. In fact, it just happens to be that Taeyong's power has something to do with spiders, he is not at all a spider. There is not an ounce of spider in him, but dream on, buddy...)

It turns out that Ten was actually pretty good at building bedframes. And nightstands. And the rest of the furniture. He built the furniture for his room, while Taeyong was zipping around, cleaning the room, sweeping up uninhabited cobwebs and a lot of random dust and dirt particles that had settled over the years of not cleaning. 

Soon, the room was pretty much spotless. 

'Hey, Ten, what's your favorite color? I forgot to ask.' Taeyong said, coming back from putting away his broom and dustpan.

'Black, why?' He said, looking up from the cupboard, which had a squeaky hinge- Barely a problem, but still irritating.

'Eh, well, I found a crate of multicolored paint. You want your walls a different color than that depressing gray color?' Taeyong told him, and Ten noticed some light yellow paint on his hands, bearing an uncanny resemblance to the pastel uniform color of the East Wing uniform of the ACF- His uniform. Ew, he hated that color with his whole existence. He'd rather have depressing gray than that disgusting shade of yellow- there was nothing wrong with the color itself, it's just the bad things he associated with it. Which is the ACF. Which is terrible.

'What colors are there?' Ten asked, hoping that yellow wasn't the only thing there was, it made him feel like he was trapped back in the facility. 

'Maybe you should come see for yourself. I don't know how to describe some, but some of them were really nice.' Taeyong said.

'Okay, lead the way to wherever they are.' Ten said, honestly doubting if the boy could find his way back there- He seemed to have a habit of losing his way, even in his own home. 

He, surprisingly enough, made it back to the crate of different paints. 

He lifted the top off the crate, letting him look at the paint inside. 

'...I think I can work with these.'

_Ten brought the paints he wanted up._

_Two days later, the room was painted black with pretty galaxy highlights, white stars flicked across the walls. He found a stepladder and used it to paint the ceiling as well- So Ten's room was like a cube of space._

_Over the next few weeks, more and more was added to his space room, including rockets painted on walls and a mix of trinkets he either found or bought at the thrift store- He visited the thrift store often, finding great ornaments and practical stuff._

* * *

'Hey Taeyong, can we go to one of the other districts? Like downtown, or the South and East districts?' 


	3. The people heist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Most heists are for money, valuable objects, illegal stockpiles, and is very much illegal. This heist is different, but still very much illegal.

**_Scenario Two- People Heist_ **

_05 May 2015_

_THIRD PERSON - Ten+Taeyong Focus_

* * *

'So, our plan?' Ten asked.

'We still need to review it again to make sure it will really work. So far, it's we sneak round the back of the facility in normal clothes with a bunch of extra jackets then we change into our uniforms to avoid suspicion. We need to re-wear our tags again, just slip the ring on and squeeze it shut, they won't look too closely. We sneak in through the back when the guards go to get their snack, as you said, the guards there takes things for granted so he leaves five minutes too early. Use your birds to scout around the area to see any dangers. If there are, then bolt and wait for it to be gone. We need to get to the right windows, and please don't stop for too many other people, we can't save more than ten. We get them out and give them jackets, the shirt is what we need to hide. Then we bolt home, yay. Maybe we can save some more another day.' Taeyong said, a little sparkle in his eyes as he thought of finally seeing his cellmates again. 

'We should be careful,' Ten said. 

'Of course. Who are you planning to save?' Taeyong asked, a hint of curiosity showing through. 

'My cellmates Yangyang and Hendery.' Ten told him. 

'You only had two cellmates..?' Taeyong asked. His own cell housed six people, way too many for that miniscule room. 

'Nah, I had four. Lucas and Winwin escaped with me. We left the two youngest there because their powers were too unstable, but we promised we'd be back for them,' Ten explained with a hint of sadness. He definitely missed them.

'Well... I'm planning to save whoever's left in my cell. We're some of the more powerful ones, so there's a higher chance we can escape, they might have already gone, but we should at least check,' Taeyong said.

'Yeah... We're doing this tomorrow evening, right?' Ten said uncertainly- He probably forgot again. 

'Yep! We should get the hoodies and jackets ready. How many do you have?' Taeyong asked.

'I have like eight in total..?' Ten said, again with some uncertainty, he doesn't count his clothes.

'And here I was, thinking I had a lot. I have five. That's plenty, we definitely have enough jackets. Now to get them over there... I don't think we can risk being seen by the guards, the last thing we need is them to see us and increase security. I think we should get them over on the day itself.' Taeyong said.

'Are the jackets even necessary? Like, it's going to be almost midnight, and if we take the mountain route, then we won't be seen at all. What's the point..?' Ten asked with a bit of confusion. He was right, if they used that route, they could get to the warehouse without being seen at all.

'Ten, that route is dangerous, I don't think we should go there,' Taeyong said.

'My birds can scout around, they'll know if there's danger, then we can get a heads up and hide or fight back. It's not going to be too dangerous..! It's actually safer than a lot of other routes. I swear we'll be _fine,_ ' Ten told him.

'...Fine,' Taeyong finally gave in.

'We should bring wire cutters, everyone in both the city and country know about the tags. They might not recognize the uniform, but they'll definitely know the tag,' Ten said. 

'Yeah. One pair of wire cutters is much easier to carry than a ton of hoodies,' Taeyong replied.

**_Time skip: 10:45 PM, 06 May 2015_ **

'You ready?' Taeyong called through the door of Ten's space cube, wire clippers in a fanny pack strapped to his waist, tag back on his ear, the familiar yet unpleasant weight on his ear making him want to rip it off.

'Hell yeah!' Ten burst out the door, nearly slamming the wood into Taeyong's face. Taeyong jumped back with a yelp at the sudden loud noise, saving himself from the door.

'...I think we should wait a little for you to calm down first.' Taeyong said, a sort of worried smile on his face. 

'No, no, I am calm, let's go!' Ten said, clearly anything _but_ calm.

'Fine, we go now, but if you haven't calmed down when we reach the river, we're waiting for you to calm down before we break in, and that would mean missing the break time.' Taeyong said- Of course, he didn't mean it. He wouldn't abandon plan simply because Ten was too _excited_.

'Yeah, okay, I'll definitely have calmed down by then.' Ten said with a smile, knowing himself well.

They turned off the lights in all the rooms before locking up and leaving, taking the normal country road route, not the mountainous route. 

Ten skipped along, and as they neared the facility, sure enough, he calmed down quite a lot, his bouncy, happy skipping turning to a sneaky slink in the bushes, not making a noise, not even footsteps as he snuck around.

They stood in a dense forest and took off their hoodies, revealing their uniforms, the pastel purple West Wing uniform on Taeyong and the pastel yellow East Wing uniform on Ten.

They then slinked over to the surrounding forest, the trees thinning to just shrubbery and low-lying plants. Ten lay low in the undergrowth, almost like a cat stalking its prey. His eyes were fixed on the one man guarding the lesser-known side gate, never leaving his relaxed figure, leaning against the gate.

Taeyong followed Ten, laying low in the bushes, watching him intently.

The guard gave a yawn, covering his mouth before glancing at his watch.

'11:54... Ah, close enough... He'll be here soon anyway... might as well grab a donut and head to bed...' The guard said, turning around and opening the gate and turning back to lock the gate before stretching and heading inside. Taeyong gave a short nod as the lights inside flickered off and the silhouette of the man headed inside, as they saw from a window. 

Ten ran out, body close to the ground, taking quick little steps before dropping to the ground and springing up, hands catching the cast iron gate, feet quickly finding a hold. He scaled the rest of the gate easily- He almost made it all the way over just by jumping. He perched impossibly on the top of the gate for a little while before dropping down completely silently, barely a sound made by his feet hitting the grass. 

Taeyong watched in disbelief- _When did he become so agile? He's almost like a cat..!_

Ten put out a hand, twelve birds coming out and fluttering around. He whistled a complicated tune. _Translation: Look around the area. Any humans outside the building, come back and warn me._

He swirled his hand around, the birds circling around, flying higher and looking around. 

Taeyong remembered that he wasn't just here to watch Ten. He ran out the same way, jumping up and over, dropping to the ground with a little more of a _crunch_ of the grass than Ten. He winced at the sound like it was a blast coming out of a loudspeaker, not just a crunch of his own feet on grass. Ten's absolute silence made every little noise sound like a clap of thunder.

They creeped around the edges of the building, people staring wide-eyed out of their windows as they slunk past. Before they turned each corner, they waited for one of the birds to check it first. They checked the west wing first, as it was much closer- They entered through the west side gate. 

Taeyong was mentally counting the windows from the gate. He remembered which window was his.

34... 35... 36...

37\. 

He stopped there, crouching under the windowsill, mentally praying that there were no guards in the room, and that this was the right window, the right people inside.

He took a deep breath and peeked over, mentally cursing when he saw that his only remaining roommate was not only sleeping, but his back was turned to the window. Taeyong bit his lip- _What am I supposed to do now?_

However, he could see that it was one of his original roommates by his hair color of bright crimson, black and white streaked at the sides.

He tapped on the window, sincerely hoping that he would wake up, which he didn't.

He studied the window. He remembered it always being locked. 

Ten whistled a little something to a bird, who fluttered down and put two of its toes into the lock. It looked up at Taeyong and chirped something he couldn't understand.

'Turn the lock around, she's not strong enough to turn it.' Ten said quietly. Taeyong turned the lock around, using a finger to turn the front metal plate. It unlocked with a little click. Ten chirped something at her and she flew into the room, landing lightly on the sleeping boy's shoulder. She chirped a very soft tune as the boy finally rose from his sleep, cracking his neck and stretching. He flinched back when the bird flew around him and towards the window. He watched her return to Ten, through an _open window,_ noting the fact that the top of Taeyong's head was visible, his eyes just barely peeking over.

He looked at the gate of his cell to make sure nobody was seeing this, then he wondered if _he_ was seeing this. He walked over to the window and stuck his hand out, bringing it down on Taeyong's head, which disappeared under the windowsill with the force.

He looked down at Taeyong, using their valued form of eye-communication where full sentences could be transmitted through a glance. 

_Why'd you come back?_

Taeyong gave a look back at him.

_I came back for you, of course._

_Why would you do that? You got your freedom, then you come back, putting yourself at risk again. You pointlessly came back. Why?_

_I couldn't just leave you here to rot..! You should get your freedom too. Transform and get out of here._

_I'll circle up there to watch out for you guys._

'If anything happens, there's a warehouse southwest of here. Follow the mountains and look for it on the plains, it's hard to miss. You can either locate the shattered window or wait outside, we're picking up other people,' Taeyong whispered, voice just barely above nothing at all. He needed to say this out, It was too specific to understand properly through glances.

'Okay, fine... You and your new friend need to be careful though,' he whispered back with a bit of concern. He knew Taeyong for no less than four years and knew that he could very much get into a lot of trouble without expecting it at all, and it was honestly quite likely that Taeyong'll just get captured again in his eyes. Taeyong made many escape plans and attempts before he finally managed to do it, and almost all of them had him severely punished, which made the boy shiver just thinking about it. 

'Wait, Yuta, your tag,' Taeyong said, taking out his wire clippers and cutting off the purple tag before giving it back to Yuta, who pocketed it.

'Thank you, Taeyong.' He said with a smile before transforming into a large Japanese crane, the sort you see in oriental ink paintings, soaring up into the sky and flying in broad circles above the facility, watching over them as he promised.

'Taeyong, close the window,' Ten said. Taeyong pulled it shut, and the same bird locked it with Ten's help.

'Now we move on to my cell,' Ten said happily, but quietly, waiting for a bird to check the corner and come back. She came back, chirping a little tune. Ten slid around the corner. _Where did all the guards go..?_ He thought. _Is this a trap?_

The faded purple paint turned to green as they neared the South wing, there was nobody they needed to pick up there. As usual, people were staring when their heads popped slightly above the window.

There was a guard on the next corner-There was another gate there. Taeyong bit his lip- What was he supposed to do? He didn't want to attract too much attention.

His thoughts were swiftly interrupted by Ten slinking out of the shadows, completely silently as usual. He pounced on him, firmly hitting the side of his head with strength he didn't look like he had, and then the guard was down. Ten looked up at the side of the building, his eyes trailing to a window on the second floor with a piece of paper on it, faint blobs of marker ink bleeding through the thin paper. That was his window, his drawing. They put it there as an identification method- When the older boys came back for the younger ones, they needed a way to find the right window. 

That window was on the second floor, how were they supposed to get up there, let alone get them out..? _Well,_ Taeyong thought, _Ten probably has another neat trick, or he would have brought it up when they were planning._

As expected, Ten did have another neat trick. He easily scaled the wall, hands impossibly holding on to cracks in the wall, using friction in his shoes to climb up. As Taeyong watched in amazement, a purple bird and a green bird came soaring out, one bird picking the lock, another bird pecking the window. Ten was holding the windowsill with one hand, staring in surprise in what he saw, feet on the awning underneath him. As the bird picking the lock chirped, he spun the lock around and pushed the window open, swinging himself into the room. 

As Ten stepped into the room, he was greeted by not the expected two people, but by four people, one awake and the rest still sleeping.

'Hi Yangyang,' Ten whispered to the smiling boy staring up at him, who stood up and gave him a hug.

'Have you been practicing your powers?' Ten asked quietly.

'Yes... I can control it pretty well now,' he answered, pulling away from the abnormally long hug for the two of them. 

'That's good, what about Hendery?' Ten asked.

'Still as unpredictable as ever. He might have improved a little though, nowadays he has a trigger.' Yangyang replied, poking another boy awake, who sat up and rubbed his eyes, turning around and spotting Ten.

'What- Ten??? You really came back?' He said, a little too loudly for the surrounding noise level.

'Yeah, of course I did. I'm guessing you did too, Lucas,' Ten pointed out. _Seems like they came back for the younger two,_ Ten thought, catching sight of Winwin snoozing on one of the top bunks.

'Yep... A bit of overconfidence there. We don't have your crazy agility and strength and wall-climbing skills, and birds that would pick locks on command.' Lucas said, mind flashing back to falling off the side of the building while trying to pick a lock with a hairpin.

'Did you come alone?' Yangyang asked.

'No, I have a friend down there and another one up in the skies somewhere. Crane shapeshifter,' Ten pointed out. 

'We need to move out, is there anything around here that you want to keep?' Ten asked.

Yangyang gathered the markers and notebook they earned after cleaning the cool down room, the room that they ditched kids that were losing control of their powers in, for the first time in years- It only needed cleaning because the kid that lost it in there had a very powerful dagger power, one that caused sharp knives to shoot out of his body at high speeds, and it became unsafe due to the dozens of sharp blades sticking out of the walls, floors and ceiling, the picture on the window that Ten drew, and a penguin plushie he earned from helping sort out the files upon files of 'students' and their misdoings. He was also taking along their shared jacket that Ten got for them after he used his birds to hang up Christmas decorations in the teachers' offices. 

Ten climbed up the ladder to the rickety bunk bed, perching on the edge just like one of his birds, the obnoxiously loud creak nearly waking up the sleeping boy lying in the bed.

'Winwin...' He whispered, shaking the boy's shoulder lightly. He didn't wake up- At least not fully. 

'Yah, Dong Sicheng, get up, it's important,' Ten told him, punching his shoulder lightly.

Winwin finally woke up, rolling over and sitting up, blinking blearily before realizing that _Ten_ was sitting there, _in his bed_ , that he came back to save them. 

' _Ten?? You're back?'_ Winwin said in shock, eyes wide, mouth hanging open. He then closed it, reaching a hand out and touching the top of Ten's head, as if to verify that he was legitimately there and not a hallucination, and when his hand didn't sink through the top of Ten's skull, he raised his other hand, touching his face. When his face was solid too, Winwin quickly pulled him into a big, warm hug, arms shaking as he held the back of Ten's head, still in shock that he was really back. Ten patted Winwin's back, swaying slightly.

'We're _all_ getting out of here this time,' he said. 'We're not leaving anyone behind.'

Ten pulled away, leaping lightly back down to the floor. Before escaping, he perfected the art of absolute silence. He knew the perfect angles to land when jumping to eliminate as much noise as possible. He knew just how to make the quickest little silent footsteps, moving at a quick speed, yet again with no noise. He practiced his agility until he was able to dodge bullets coming from two sources with insane ease, barely slowing down.

He practiced all these different skills, mainly stealth-related, but he also became stronger. He trained his strength and participated in a _lot_ of playfights with his cellmates to train his fighting skills, and the instant KO temple punch was a completely accidental discovery after poor Yangyang passed out with a punch to the temple, much to everyone's surprise- They never knew much about combat strategy, in fact the topic was banned in the facility. Then Ten guessed that a knockout was caused by 'jiggling of the brain' or whatever he said. 

They tested just how much strength it needed on Lucas- In an escape, it was wise to save as much energy as possible. Basically, the poor boy voluntarily got hit multiple times for research purposes. 

Ten soon became the MVP of the cell, able to do nearly anything for them, including showing them how to climb down from a window, exactly what they were currently doing. 

He climbed back down, making sure everyone was watching from the window.

'So you hold the windowsill like this and swing your feet over, make sure they land on the awning down here.' Ten said, demonstrating.

'You can jump from here. I know it looks high, but it's the height of about 1 Lucas from the awning to the grass. It's jumpable, but you better land carefully. Be sure to bend your knees when you land,' Ten instructed.

'But 1 Lucas is a lot...’ Hendery said, staring down at the distance. 

'I know, but you shouldn't hurt yourself jumping from that distance,' Ten said, jumping down, bending his knees and landing perfectly, as expected. 

'I'll see that as twice the height, then.' Lucas pointed out.

'Yeah, you should. Remember you're not jumping that whole distance, just half.'Ten told him, going to join Taeyong leaning against the wall as Winwin cautiously stepped out of the window, gripping the windowsill and landing on the awning, almost slipping but managing to keep his balance. He then looked down, leaping lightly down, trying to imitate Ten in his landing. He landed successfully, looking back up and smiling up at his roommates. Hendery was next, just getting onto the awning and jumping down, landing normally and walking away, lying down in the grass a couple meters away. Taeyong clipped off both their tags, waiting for the next one.

Lucas stared out of the window. 

'It still looks so high,' he said.

'It looks higher for taller people, it's really not that bad.' Winwin told Lucas. 'You've seen it before, remember? You saw it from ground level, it didn't look too bad, right?' 

'Yeah but it HURT when I FELL.' Lucas said, mind flashing back yet again to falling off this very awning.

'Then let Yangyang go first,' Winwin said.

Yangyang nervously stepped forward, throwing the stuff he wanted to keep down before swinging himself over the windowsill. His foot slipped and sent him flying, hands twisting until they couldn't hold on without breaking. He let go of the windowsill to avoid killing his wrists.

Everyone simultaneously soundlessly screeched, no sound coming out, kind of like when you laugh so hard and you can't laugh out loud any more. Yangyang miraculously didn't scream as he catapulted directly towards the ground, remembering how he read in an age-old newspaper that seemed to be on a specific bench for about two years at this point, that a man once broke a 10 meter fall and didn't break a bone by rolling. He started spinning rapidly in midair, the fall indeed being broken by the rolling, the impact spread out instead of directly on his left shoulder. 

Yangyang was aching all over from that, but at least he didn't break anything.

'See THAT is EXACTLY why I'm not a fan of jumping from a window,' Lucas pointed out.

'Lucas, just jump for god's sake, the guards probably heard Yangyang falling. We need to go _now._ ' Ten said, picking up the markers and his drawing, staring at it with a _wow this is terrible_ expression. Yangyang picked up his now dirty plushie, Taeyong walking over and cutting his tag off.

A half-human-half-bird thing came swooping down, simply snatching Lucas from the window and carrying him down. He flew Lucas right over the wall, gently putting him down on the other side. Taeyong recognized the bright crimson and white hair- Yuta. He came flying back over the wall, landing next to them.

'Anyone else want a fly over?' He asked.

'Me! I wanna fly,' Yangyang said enthusiastically.

'If you drop him I swear to god we're all gonna come after you,' Ten said.

'Yeah, yeah, okay, but if he doesn't hold on it's not my problem,' Yuta replied, scooping Yangyang up and flying up and over the tall wall, depositing him with Lucas on the other side.

'Anyone else?' Yuta asked, perching himself on top of the wall. 

'I'm not a fan of climbing walls,' Winwin said, and Yuta flew him over to the other side.

A flock of bright birds came soaring towards Ten, all chirping frantically.

'My god, stop talking so fast, calm down,' Ten grumbled before chirping softly at them. A single bird spoke up, chirping something only Ten could understand.

'Guards,' Ten said. 'The rest of the flock is trying to slow them down, and _excuse me-_ scratching at their eyes.'

'They can't hold them off for long, and the guards are still diligently running,' he said, rapidly translating all the information the bird was relaying.

Yuta flew back, and hearing that information, he scooped Taeyong up, full speed transporting him, before returning for Hendery, same thing full speed transportation, by then Ten had already scaled the wall and they were all sprinting in absolute confusion, Ten giving a shrill whistle, a whole army of birds fluttering out of the facility, leaving the guards alone and flying above the crowd of running teenagers, flying alongside Yuta, who was soaring above them, keeping a close watch on them, making sure that everyone stayed together. 

Taeyong led them all straight back to the warehouse, everyone absolutely exhausted, Hendery even sitting on the floor in the mere four seconds it took to open the front door. Yangyang was still clutching his penguin plushie, quite dirty from the throwing from the window and how Yangyang rolled on it. 

'Bye, I'm going up to my space cube, you guys do whatever,' Ten said, slowly making his way through the large empty hall.

'Space cube???' Yangyang questioned.

'It's his room, he painted the walls to look like space so he calls it his space cube,' Taeyong told him. 'Is there anything you want to do right now?' 

'Wash my penguin.' Yangyang said. 'He's all dirty.' 

'Okay, you can have a shower while you're at it if you want, I'll get Ten to give you some clothes,' Taeyong said with a smile, leading Yangyang up the stairs to a bathroom before looking around the warehouse from the viewing deck.

Nobody had bothered to turn on a single light, Hendery was still sitting outside, appearing to be summoning the little energy to get up and inside. Lucas was lying spread out on the floor, seeming to be fast asleep already. Winwin was walking around, looking around the place, seemingly not that tired even after running all the way here. Taeyong scanned the room for Yuta, straining his eyes in the darkness, finally finding him sitting in the rafters. Years of staying with him let Taeyong know that Yuta always preferred higher places, so whenever they had to look for him, they always checked the rafters and other high places. It was hard to catch the boy on the ground- He was always sitting somewhere high off the ground or flying way up high. 

He turned into a crane, settling down and presumably going to sleep.

Taeyong went to Ten's space cube, opening the door, about to ask Ten to give some clothes. He walked into the room, seeing that it was totally dark and Ten was just sitting in the darkness. It looked quite creepy, really, but it was easy to be mesmerized into sitting in darkness in the space cube due to a new addition to the room made just weeks earlier- glow-in-the-dark paint.

He painted over the stars on the walls with a different amount of paint, giving it more depth and distance. His space cube was now truly stunning.

'Hey Ten, can you lend some clothes to one of your brothers?' Taeyong asked- he was unsure of their names.

'Which one?' He questioned back.

'The one that fell from the window,' Taeyong said.

'Yeah, hold on a second, I'll get something for him,' he said, sliding across the floor to his dresser, opening the bottom drawer and taking out a nice pair of sweatpants and a pretty nice matching sweatshirt- his favorites.

'I asked who it was for the quality of clothes I give and Yangyang's the favorite child, so I give him the best clothes,' he said, reaching up and taking a pair of underwear. He bundled everything up and gave it to Taeyong. 

'Everything's black,' Taeyong pointed out.

'My favorites tend to be black,' Ten said, flopping back on the ground, wincing at the sound of some joint cracking. 

'Tell me if anyone else needs anything from me,' Ten groaned out, sounding like he was about to fall asleep on the spot, closing his eyes.

'Well, seems like everyone else is gonna pass out on the floor- well, maybe except one- so I doubt they'll need anything,' he pointed out.

'You can take care of your own brother right?' Ten confirmed, opening one eye and staring at Taeyong.

'Well, he's pretty independent and I think he's already fallen asleep in the rafters somewhere, I think he can take care of himself and he'll probably tell me if he needs anything. I don't want to check on him, really, because that would include yelling and I don't want to wake anyone up,' Taeyong explained. 

'Fair enough,' Ten said, rolling on his side and curling slightly up. 

'You know, you built a bed for a reason, why're you sleeping on the floor..?' Taeyong asked.

'Same reason Hendery's not getting out of the doorway,' he said.

'Can't summon the energy to get up?' Taeyong asked.

'Precisely,' he said. 

Taeyong walked over to his bed, grabbing a pillow and throwing it at Ten, who somehow reached up and snatched it out of the air without even opening his eyes.

'Thanks,' he said.

'Anytime, goodnight,' Taeyong said before heading over to the bathroom, knocking on the door.

He entered the room, head bowed down- he's not a creep- and put the clothes on the bathroom counter before leaving.

Taeyong looked around the warehouse again. Hendery had somehow fallen asleep in the doorway, as if the little amount of energy it required to get inside and close the door was far too much for his body to handle. Lucas curled up on the floor, sleeping peacefully. Winwin found a comfy spot on the couch and was resting there, not quite asleep but far from awake. Yuta did indeed fall asleep in the rafters, head tucked under a wing and curled up in a little bundle of feathers. 

Taeyong wandered out to the storage room which still had some stuff in it, finding a couple blankets bundled up in plastic wrap. He took out three blankets, ripping them out of the plastic and carrying them out to the living room, throwing one over Lucas, who curled up even more, bundling some up as a pillow which cost his feet getting exposed [tall people can relate]. He then threw one over Winwin, who mumbled a quick thanks before adjusting it over himself. 

He dragged Hendery inside the house, settling him beside Lucas and throwing the last blanket over him. He woke up just a little, wrapping his blanket back into a bundle, sharing it with Lucas as a pillow. He then fluffed Lucas' blanket up, placing it over both of them. _Wow,_ Taeyong thought. _Not enough energy to get up and inside, but enough to do all that._

Taeyong looked up again at the rafters, locating the white bundle up there, still dozing peacefully. He would probably stay there for the whole night. Yangyang came out of the bathroom, towel-drying his hair, wearing all the black stuff Ten provided. Taeyong walked up the stairs, meeting him at the top.

'Where can I sleep..?' He asked shyly.

'Are you okay sharing a room with Ten for now? We're going to set up rooms for you guys tomorrow,' Taeyong told him.

'Yeah, that's totally fine with me!' He said happily, looking down the stairs, spotting two of his brothers sleeping on the floor in the middle of the room.

Taeyong led him over to the door of the space cube, the wooden sign bearing the message 'Ten's Space Cube, please leave' in his neat handwriting. The other side bore the message 'Ten's Space Cube. Knock for a chance to enter'. 

Taeyong knocked and just entered anyway, seeing Ten still lying on the floor, still not quite asleep. 

'Wow, still haven't moved to the bed? I'm surprised,' Taeyong said, clearly anything _but_ surprised. 

‘哇，这房间很好看啊！’ _<_ _Wow, this room's really pretty! > _Yangyang said.

‘我知道，是我自己画的，当然是好看的。‘ _< I know. Of course it's pretty, I painted it myself.> _Ten replied.

'I literally have no idea what you guys are saying,' Taeyong told them.

'Yeah, yeah, okay. I'm guessing I'm supposed to share a room with him for the time being?' Ten asked.

'Yep. Hope you're fine with that,' Taeyong said.

'Yeah, sure. 扬扬，跟我在地上，或自己在床上？” _< Yangyang, on the floor with me or on the bed alone?>_

“跟你在地上。” _< On the floor with you.>_

“哦，来躺下吧。你要枕头吗？” _< **noise of acknowledgement** Then come lie down. Do you want a pillow?>_

'I take that as you can settle this yourselves. Goodnight,' Taeyong said.

'Yeah, goodnight to you too,' Ten said, settling under the blanket with Yangyang.

'Goodnight!' Yangyang said.

Taeyong wandered over to his own room, not nearly as wonderful as Ten's but still acceptable. He lay down in the soft glow of the resin ball he made with Ten one day, glow-in-the-dark paint leftover from Ten's walls swirled in with glitter and flower petals. He stretched out before curling back up in bed, not bothering to put on the blanket as he let his eyes flutter shut, sleep washing over him like a wave on a beach, as if only now his body realized just how tired it was from running. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My mom asked me to practice my Chinese, so here's some little snippets because technically they speak Chinese and it was a good opportunity. Also, in the facility, it's common to call cellmates [or roommates, putting it nicer] brothers, sisters or just siblings because they become very close after spending that long together. A chapter explaining universe is coming up soon, and other groups besides just NCT, they're just cool to write because they can fit many concepts and stuff like that. I'm gaining an NCT obsession guys.  
> Anyway I'm now thinking of storylines that can fit this universe, so let's just wait for my writer's block to end.  
> Also, when did this chapter get so LONG? Some parts must be quite boring, I'll try to summarize the chapters a little more in the future. :)  
> n e ways have a nice day or night, wherever you are and whatever time you're reading this at! even if you're having a hard time, try to find some happiness in something. Maybe try to learn to appreciate something you haven't before, that really helps me, might work for you too. Bye!! <3
> 
> Approx. date of next post: 7 December 2020


	4. Ateez..?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They're just little assassins that just wanna have fun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah so I know I said the next scenario will be out on the 7th but I'm struggling to think of prompts, so while you're waiting I'm just gonna drop this.  
> If you have any ideas, please tell me your idea!  
> Also, tell me what group you want next <3

_**Scenario Three- Bonus Scenario- Ateez..?** _

_16 June 2018_

_Third Person- San Focus_

_04:38 AM_

* * *

Blood splashed onto San’s face. 

Nothing out of the ordinary. 

To do his job properly, blood must be drawn. 

San was always known to be ruthless and dangerous. 

_ He was. _

Even though his power isn’t the most remarkable, unique, or terrifying, he can use it  _ well. _

_ Very. Well.  _

San has always been resourceful, and he works perfectly fine with whatever the hell is close to him. 

_ He stepped over the body on the floor.  _

Anything. 

From a vase, 

To a glass,

To a pen, 

Or even nothing at all. 

_ Click.  _

And he keeps…

Pictures. 

He sends them… 

To the people that pay him to do such things. 

_ To receive what he was promised.  _

He got what he wanted. 

He got what he lived for. 

He had everything. 

Everything… except… 

_ Freedom.  _

But that didn’t matter. 

All he needed was his seven lovely boys. 

He was satisfied,

As long as they were with him. 

If not… 

He wouldn’t know what to do.

What  _ would  _ he do? 

_ Jump off a bridge?  _

Perhaps. 

But… They were still with him. 

That wasn’t necessary. 

Were they the only reason he was still walking the earth? 

_ Yes.  _

San put down the broken coke bottle and went to his victim’s own bathroom, washing his hands and making sure everything was cleaned up well and good, before leaving, giving a quick bow of respect to the dead man’s body. 

His boys were probably back home enjoying themselves, playing video games, maybe, having a screaming match, perhaps, all for fun of course. He can't remember the last time they fought- They were much too close for that. 

They might be training their powers, hopefully not using them to wreck the house. 

He climbed out of the window and scaled the wall outside, mainly using balconies and awnings to get himself up to the roof. 

From there, he could hop back to their house. 

He sat on the edge of the building first, plugging his headphones to his phone and listening to some music. 

He was always tense after killing people. 

He needed to relax. 

...

It was a clear night. 

There were stars out— Not many, due to the city’s lights, but still… There were a couple bright ones. 

He leaned back on his hands, closing his eyes for a little while. 

_ ‘...No matter what  _

_ some people say _

_ No matter what _

_ Some people hate _

_ No matter what.. _

_ the things that make you sick _

_... _

_ Just keep it up.’  _

He lay back on the roof, looking at the sky. 

_ The smell of blood.  _

_ It’s always on him.  _

_ He always can smell it.  _

_ Even when it’s not there at all.  _

_ Is he going crazy?  _

_ Sunrise is his go-to song when he feels out of it.  _

_ It reminds him that he has something worth living for, and he should fight to live for it.  _

_ Maybe someday he can give this life up, and start a new life, one which isn’t filled with the scent of blood, one that would distract him from that rusty smell that he seemed to always carry with him.  _

_ But for now… To support his boys, he needs to do this.  _

_ They say one of the quickest ways to get money is to become a hitman.  _

_ Well… San’s good at it. It’s pretty much his job now.  _

_ It allows him to live life happily with his best friends.  _

_ But it’s a life no one would want.  _

_ … _

_ ‘I should be grateful.’ _

_ ‘I shouldn’t have so many regrets.’ _

_ ‘I shouldn’t think like this.’  _

_ ‘It’s not… It’s not normal.’  _

_ ‘Screw this, I’m not normal.’ _

_ ‘I’ll never be.’  _

_ ‘But I can make this life liveable, I can make myself happy.’ _

_ ‘I need to look for my happiness.’  _

_ ‘I need to find my own happiness in this blurry, black mess of the life I live. I need to find light.’  _

**_SAN mental health status: -10_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I also made a status system and stuff like that. so stuff like friendship status, mental health status, yeah I'll add the status in the scenarios.  
> 1-5 is considered basic, 5-10 is considered good, 10-20 is very good, 20-30 is excellent. there's also negative numbers btw.
> 
> next scenario expected drop time 7-10 dec


	5. Taehyun’s Powers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taehyun gets his powers today.

13th November 2016

Taehyun awoke with a jolt in the cave he was camping in for the night. 

What caused him to wake up so suddenly? 

He looked around for anything which might have woken him up. 

There didn’t seem to be anything… Until an enormous beetle took off and buzzed directly into his face. 

He leapt back with a yelp, trying to swat away the beetle that had landed on his nose. He ended up violently shaking his head while scooting backwards in panic. 

The tickly feeling of the insect’s feet on his face made him shrink back against a wall of the cave, small chunks of dirt falling from the ceiling, settling in his hair. He shook his head again, and the beetle finally flew away. He took in a shaky breath, his head falling against the dirt walls with a dull  _ thunk. _ He usually wasn’t  _ this _ scared of bugs, and even if he was scared he wouldn’t have  _ this big  _ of a reaction.

He crawled over to the spot just beside the entrance of the cave, curling up in the colder, fresher air. 

He felt kinda funny. 

***

Somehow, the person he was staying with, Soobin, slept through the whole ordeal, but he woke up about half an hour later. Sitting up, (almost hitting his head on the ceiling, he was quite tall for his age) he looked at Taehyun sleeping by the entrance to the cave. 

He just stared at the boy. 

What… what happened to him? 

He cautiously approached Taehyun, inspecting him from slightly closer. 

Taehyun’s ears had been replaced with bigger cat-like ears, and he seemed to have… a long black tail, swishing around as he slept. 

Soobin stared in confusion. 

What happened? How did he suddenly turn into a cat hybrid just like that? Did he develop some sort of power? 

A power to become a cat hybrid? Seemed… unlikely. A bit  _ too  _ rare. 

_ Should I wake him up? _ Soobin thought.  _ What if he claws me or something? He might have developed a cat-like personality too.  _

Soobin just noticed that his fingernails looked… Well, very sharp. Very sharp. Really looked VERY painful… those suckers would really hurt in Soobin’s eyes. 

Soobin decided to let the boy sleep, although Taehyun did say, rather threateningly, that they would be on the move at the crack of dawn the night before, and it was already well past sunrise. 

Maybe because of his cat-hybrid thing, he sorta became nocturnal? Well, not fully nocturnal, but still… kind of nocturnal. Sleeping in the day. Awake at night. 

Soobin was totally confused on what to do. He couldn’t bring Taehyun anywhere like this, and was he supposed to be able to help in any way? There was no way he  _ could  _ help. He didn’t even dare to wake him up, like he was a sleeping beast that would attack upon awakening. 

Soobin’s family used to be foster parents for animals that couldn’t fit in the shelters, and he had quite a fair share of cat scratches from waking up cats. 

Taehyun seemed to be stirring, he was shifting around a little more than before. Soobin backed away, worried that he'd scare him due to the proximity. 

Taehyun woke up and stretched out on the floor, kind of like a cat, tail flicking a little.

‘Good morning,’ Soobin said, still staring at Taehyun’s cat ears and how they pricked up at the sound of Soobin’s voice. 

‘Good morning to you too,’ Taehyun said, looking behind him, outside the cave opening, up at the very blue sky. ‘How did I manage to sleep so late? Usually I wake up pretty early.’ 

He looked far too casual. Did he not notice yet? 

Soobin stared kind of warily at Taehyun’s sharpened teeth. 

They were sharp already to begin with… Make them even sharper and they were practically fangs. 

Soobin also realised that Taehyun’s eyes had turned into a mystical amethyst color. Weird color for a cat, but so  _ mesmerising.  _ His pupils also did turn to slits as he faced the brightness outside, dilating back to circles when he turned back to face Soobin. 

‘...Why are you staring at me like that?’ Taehyun asked, sitting cross-legged on the floor, letting his tail curl around him. 

He seemed to have felt the furry, fluffy tail on his leg, because he looked down and spotted it innocently lying beside him. He jumped back with a yelp, ears immediately flattening as he landed on all fours. 

He lay close to the ground, shoulders raised, eyes darting around, as if he was expecting a panther to jump out at them. 

Soobin found this all too amusing. Taehyun freaking out at the brush of his own tail, acting so, so catlike. 

‘Taehyun! Taehyun, stop it,’ Soobin told him, voice slowly rising as Taehyun bounced off the ceiling. 

‘...what’s going on?’ He asked kind of weakly, finally sinking down to the floor in confusion, ears flattened, tail still and unmoving. 

Soobin crawled up to him-  _ was it just him, or did the ceiling seem shorter?-  _ and petted his head. 

‘...what are you doing?’ Taehyun asked. 

‘You’ve become a cat hybrid, Taehyun, that’s why you keep seeing that tail. Also, your ears and eyes changed as well. Seemingly your behaviour too.’ Soobin said with a laugh. 

‘...Cat hybrid?’ Taehyun asked, hands darting up to touch his head, where sure enough, they met the cat ears. He fiddled around with them for a couple seconds before darting out of the cave, presumably to the small, still pond where he could see his reflection.

Soobin sighed and left the cave, rounding around to the back, where sure enough, Taehyun was staring, mesmerised, at his reflection. 

He suddenly stuck out a hand and jumped about a foot into the air when his hand touched the water’s surface. 

‘At this point I’m getting seriously worried,’ Soobin said, staring down at Taehyun. 

‘I’ve no idea what ‘m doing,’ Taehyun said, staring at a frog in the pond. 

‘Don’t you dare hunt down that frog,’ Soobin told him, watching as Taehyun crouched down at the waterside, watching the frog with wide eyes. 

‘ _ Kang Taehyun.’  _ Soobin groaned as Taehyun reached out a clawed hand at the frog. Taehyun’s ears pricked up at his name, falling back and staring up at Soobin with his glassy amethyst eyes. 

‘Ugh, come here, we don’t need you  _ hunting frogs  _ of all things.’ Soobin said, wrapping his arms around the considerably smaller boy, who simply curled up in Soobin’s arms, staring up at the older boy. 

‘What are you looking at now?’ Soobin said, clearly unimpressed at Taehyun's staring. 

Taehyun said nothing. 

‘Fine, if you want to hunt or whatever, I can take you out to the river later and see if you can catch us a decently sized fish for lunch,’ Soobin grumbled, and Taehyun’s ears pricked in happiness, tail suddenly curling up, tickling Soobin’s arm. 

‘Please stop that, it tickles,’ Soobin told him. Taehyun smiled up at him, showing his pointy teeth. ‘I can’t,’ he said mischievously. 

Soobin brought him up to the cave. It wasn’t safe to go to the city as they had planned, because of this new… Complication. 

Well, if Taehyun could catch them decently sized meals then of course that wouldn’t be fully necessary for a while. 

They sat in the cave for a while, Taehyun’s ears and tail contently flicking. That probably meant that he didn’t really need anything. 

‘Since we aren’t going to go to the city, are we staying here?’ He asked after a while. 

‘Yeah, for the time being. If you can keep yourself under control and you can get rid of the ears then that would be ideal, the tail is easy to hide,’ Soobin told him. 

‘Well, and maybe the purple eyes, too,’ Soobin said as Taehyun turned to face him again. 

***

He soon tired himself out after bouncing around a little and took a nap in the cave, curling up in a corner and falling asleep. Soobin was strangely reminded of one of the cats his family fostered before they went missing- a dark grey mixed-breed cat, who had these sudden energetic moments before suddenly settling down for a nap. 

He smiled fondly, he loved that cat. He was quite sad to see it go, it was adopted a few months after Soobin’s family started fostering it. It made sense- It was a very pretty cat, had good personality traits, was still young… There was nothing that would stop people from adopting it. 

Soobin hoped that Taehyun  _ wasn’t  _ so much like that cat. 

He hoped that Taehyun wouldn’t have to leave, or wouldn’t get picked up by a gang or something once he develops his power. 

Because although there were a number of similarities between Taehyun and Soobin’s old cat, another was that… Taehyun was powered. He was also still young, good looking too, a prime choice for gangs. 

Soobin would have protected his old kitty with his life. 

Now it’s this kitty’s turn. 

***

Taehyun woke up, alone in the cave. 

Soobin had gone out to study the plants earlier, trying to find some edible plants and getting better at identifying them. 

Taehyun bounded out of the cave, staring up at the sky, spotting the sun at around where it would be when it was noon. His pupils turned to slits again, it was very bright in the afternoon, even when he wasn’t looking at the sun. 

It was around noon. 

That meant, 

Lunchtime. 

Soobin said Taehyun could go catch fish if he wanted. Taehyun was quite excited. 

He should probably look for Soobin first.

He ran around the forest in the areas they would usually go, finding him crouching down, inspecting some sort of plant. 

‘Hi Taehyun,’ Soobin said, standing up and moving on to the next plant. 

‘Hi. Is it around lunchtime? It’s about noon now. I wanna go fishing,’ Taehyun said, slightly impatient. 

‘Okay, okay, fine. I’ll take you there now, okay?’ Soobin said, standing up and taking him over to the river. 

Taehyun immediately ran over to the water, slowing down slightly as he waded through it. Huh, usually cats don’t seem to like water that much. Guess that doesn’t apply for this. 

Taehyun calmed down more when he got to a nice, very shallow spot in the center of the river. He lay close to the ground, watching the movements of the fish. 

Some were big fish and some were smaller, and some fish looked more appetizing than the others. 

Soobin was pretty sure Taehyun would get something, so he started a fire.

He went camping many times with his dad, and his dad taught him a lot of survival tips and tricks, as if he knew Soobin would end up in this situation. Maybe he planned his disappearance and wanted to know his son wasn’t a lost cause in the wild. 

They had done this before, catching and cooking a fish over a fire. Soobin had a knife to gut the fish too, their sole knife they got from an old bag hikers left behind. They still have the bag. 

Soobin sat by the waterside, watching Taehyun stare down something in the water with wide eyes, exactly what he did with the frog. 

Taehyun suddenly dove into the water and smoothly came back out, a pretty decent-sized fish clasped in his jaws.

‘You  _ bit the fish. _ ’ Soobin said, staring at the fish. 

Taehyun spat it out, shaking off the water. 

‘Fish are slippery, okay. I wouldn’t have been able to hold on with my hands,’ Taehyun said. 

‘Fair enough. I just wasn’t expecting that,’ Soobin said with a laugh, picking up the fish and checking if it was alive. Taehyun went out again, catching another fish. 

He was very good at it. 

After he caught his fish, he wandered around the area, sniffing random plants. 

He found one plant very tempting to just bite. 

He took a leaf in his teeth, chewing it up. 

It was catnip. 

***

Soobin heard giggling from behind him. 

He whipped his head around, looking for the source. 

Taehyun was rolling around in the grass a couple yards away, giggling to himself like a maniac. 

Soobin watched Taehyun in shock. What? 

Taehyun rolled over behind Soobin, grabbing on to him and swaying around. 

‘heHEheeHEhEhEe soobineeeEEEEE…’ 

Soobin pushed Taehyun away, who just flopped onto the floor, staring up at him with glassy, slightly crossed eyes, before thrashing around on the floor. 

Soobin was so confused. What happened to him? Did he eat something funny? 

Wait. 

Catnip. 

He ate the catnip. 

Of course he ate the catnip. What else would cause this sort of reaction? 

He  _ really  _ needs supervision 24/7 now. 

Taehyun finally calmed down, flopping completely passed out into Soobin’s lap. 

Soobin sighed, lifting Taehyun off his lap and laying him down next to him. 

Soobin used two long sticks as chopsticks, flipping over the fish in the fire. 

He gazed into the low fire thoughtfully. 

They could live like this for a while. But only for so long- They  _ had  _ to get to the city in a while. It’s too dangerous out here to stay all year. It was getting far too cold as well. They had to move into a place which had a  _ door _ and could retain heat… They were planning on finding a basic place, probably in the east district, the poor people's place. Maybe one of the homeless districts? Soobin knew for a fact that they had boxcars there that could feasibly house them until they finally could get jobs or something. 

There was a river there too, which likely had fish. The question was how safe to eat they were. Did they dump chemicals and whatnot into the water? Waste from factories in the north district? Or plastics that the city tries to cover up? 

He didn’t quite trust the fish there. Maybe he will only eat the fish if there was nothing else. 

For now, all he needs to do is take care of Taehyun and make sure he stays safe. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo i am so sorry that i posted this late. i know i promised by the 10th, i feel so bad for posting it late.   
> i’ll set the next one for christmas so i have a date to work towards yay


	6. Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas has come, and here's the main groups' reactions to it.

**Christmas Day**

**Group: SEVENTEEN**

_It was 12AM, which meant... It was Christmas._

Jihoon was still awake, last-minute wrapping presents like any other Christmas. 

Across the room was Jeonghan, who was counting the presents, over and over, counting only 11... He missed someone. Checking the nametags on the gift spread out in front of him, he forgot Soonyoung... He bit his lip, checking his surroundings for anything unused, eyes landing on a notebook with only one page used. He quickly grabbed it, tearing out the first two pages. The used page went into the trash. He took the pen he was using to write the nametags and drew a quick sketch of a tiger on the second page, putting a star on its forehead. He found a box of coloring pencils and colored it. Looking at the drawing, he deduced that the rushed drawing looked decent, and didn't look like he drew the whole thing in five minutes, which was exactly what he just did. He cut it out and glued it to the cover of the notebook. Good enough. He wrapped it and drew Soonyoung's name in a pretty calligraphy font. He counted the presents again. Still 11??? Jihoon's was missing this time. He looked over at Jihoon, who held up the gift with a grin. 

'You're done with this, aren't you?' He asked Jeonghan.

'Yeah. Sorry about the _slightly_ torn paper at the back, it was an accident, I swear,' Jeonghan said. In fact it was a big rip, and it wasn't an accident, he watched earlier as Jihoon screwed up the wrapping on his present, so he did it out of revenge. Also for Jihoon stealing the last candy cane the day before. 

'Well, I messed up yours too so I guess we're even,' Jihoon told him, unwrapping the present, which was a suncatcher. He had a room which was angled in a way that it captured a lot of sunlight, so the suncatcher would paint his room in rainbows for the whole morning. 

'Ooh, is this the thing that catches sunlight and makes it into rainbows?' Jihoon asked, holding it up. 

The suncatcher was really beautiful itself, the glass diamond hanging from a beaded thread of rainbow colors. The thread itself was a transparent fishing line, Jeonghan thought it looked better transparent than opaque. He was quite proud of it, he made it himself. Of course, he bought the suncatcher's main piece, he didn't have the tools to make that himself, but everything else, the bead pattern, the fishing line- was all made by him.

'Yeah. I noticed that your room got a lot of sunlight in the mornings, so the suncatcher would catch a lot of light, and cast a lot of rainbows. I thought you would like it,' Jeonghan said with a smile. 

'I love it,' Jihoon said with a smile; he really appreciated it. It was something he would absolutely love, but he never thought about getting one for himself. 

'I just wrapped yours- Here, catch,' Jihoon said, throwing the gift at Jeonghan. Jeonghan snatched it out of the air before it hit the cupboard behind him. He opened it up- a box of candy canes, and a... thing. A weird thing. It was a really pretty thing. There were really beautiful turquoise bits of sea glass set into the center, and it was black with small flakes of gold leaf sealed in. Two tiny pearl rhinestones sat around the sea glass. It looked like a case or something. Jeonghan opened it. There was a pair of customized earbuds inside, in the same theme as their case. In the lid of the case was a small screen, with a small button next to it. It looked like something from the future, something extremely expensive and exquisite; something high-tech.

'Woah, what are these?' Jeonghan asked, taking out one of them. 'Are they normal earbuds?' He asked, turning it over in his palm.

'They're a special kind of communication device. Don't ask where I got them. Put one in your ear and press the button,' Jihoon instructed him. Jeonghan followed his instructions.

'Hello, Angel. Merry Christmas!' A robotic voice said into his ear. He chose that as a code name years ago, and he stuck with it.

'Woah, this is cool!' Jeonghan said.

'I know. I already set up everything for you. It's even linked to your phone already, you can ask it to play any of your playlists, a podcast... I can show you what else it can do if you want,' Jihoon said, walking over and sitting down next to him.

'If you press the backing, you can talk to it and it'll do anything for you. Oh, and I linked everyone to yours already. You see?' He said, pointing at the screen, which had thirteen icons. Each marked with two letters.

'If you let out an emergency signal, it does this,' he said. He pressed the side of his own earpiece. 'Send out an emergency signal.' 

'Emergency signal from Woozi,' Jeonghan's earpiece said. The icon labelled 'WZ' lit up red. 'Now tap on it.' Jihoon instructed.

When tapped, the screenful of icons changed to a map of their city. Jeonghan could also hear some odd echo- his own earpiece had tuned in to Jihoon's.

'Tell it to show the address,' Jihoon told him.

'Show the address.' Jeonghan said, pressing down on the backing of the earpiece.

The screen blinked to show the address of their location. 'Sixth floor, unit 56,' Jeonghan's earpiece said.

'Wow, it's very exact,' Jeonghan commented. 'I know right?' Jihoon told him. 

'There's more settings, you can see them if you ask it to show settings. You can tinker around with it if you want. Also, if it detects falls and stuff, it would give an option to give an emergency signal. You would have 3 seconds to cancel it. There's also a whole tutorial on how to use it. I'd recommend going through it, you never know when you need it, so I'll advise sooner than later. You also should wear it as much as possible. Charge it at home. Wear it even in your sleep if you can, in case you get kidnapped in your sleep and they have some kind of ability blocker,' Jihoon told him. 

'Oh, and to call anyone via earpiece, just tap their icon, then they'll be able to hear you. Or you could just ask it to call. You could give it a name as well, it'll act like Siri or Bixby or that sort of virtual assistant,' Jihoon said.

'Thanks a lot. This'll be really helpful. I would ask you where it came from, but you told me not to. Also, thanks for the candy canes,' Jeonghan said, admiring his beautiful new earpieces. 

Jihoon showed him his own customized pair. The case was white with a golden marble pattern, a golden sun decal in the middle. The earpieces themselves were the same marble pattern, a fragment of sunstone set in one side and a golden 'WZ' on the other. 

'They're beautiful.'

* * *

**Group: NCT**

_Note: They now have all 23 members._

Time: 6AM 

'MEERRRRRRRYYY CCHHRRISSSSTMMAAS!!!!!!!' Lucas and Mark screamed as they ran down the hallways. Jungwoo and Chenle sat in the rafters, screeching as they pelted anyone who poked their heads out of their door with candy bars. Ten and Yangyang came out of their room with nerf guns, shooting at the boys. 

They didn't have a Christmas tree to put presents under, so the Dreamies and a part of WayV banded together to build some massive structure which resembled a fort made out of 6 tables, all of the legs miraculously holding the odd structure up. They then draped the whole thing with sticks and leaves, spraying glitter all over, and there was the Christmas 'tree'. Or fort. Well, it was the home of the presents. It was also a shelter from whatever the kids threw, as shown by Kun who was sitting under the tree, arranging the presents around and making space for the presents he was giving. And of course, hiding so he wouldn't be pummeled with candy. 

There weren't a lot of gifts, but the leaders were checking it at 2am to make sure everyone has at least one present. They reminded the members to not spend too much and give homemade gifts if possible. The better cooks baked cakes and cookies or made nice food, the craftier ones made diys, the artistic ones drew and painted. 

By 8AM, almost everyone in the household was awake and unboxing gifts. Each member got 3 or 4 gifts at most. 

No matter what it was, they appreciated it anyway. It's not like anyone could spend a lot of money on anything, they needed to watch their finances, because they don't get a lot of income as very few are working; and the ones working don't get a lot of income anyway, because they aren't qualified for bigger jobs [didn't go to school].

So it was all cheap stuff. It's the thought that counts anyway. 

[Sorry, NCT doesn't have a lot of lines, just like their members if they're not Mark or Taeyong] 

* * *

**Group: TXT**

'Hey guys!' Soobin said happily, setting down his glass jar full of money on the crate-table.

'Woah, we got a lot today!' Beomgyu said in amazement, noting just how full the jar was. 

'It was Christmas Eve yesterday, I guess our things are popular gifts. Last-minute gifts, likely, but still, nice to know that sales are going well,' Taehyun said with a smile, reading a newspaper he found abandoned on the sidewalk earlier. 

'I hope Yeonjun-hyung comes home soon. It's getting cold,' Kai said from a corner, buried under piles of knitted blankets. 

'Be patient, he's coming home soon. Anyway, let's count what we got. By the way, I came home so early because we ran out. Are last night's ready? Yeonjun left already, so I'm guessing yes,' Soobin said. 

'Yeah, they're in the boxes over there. I'll count,' Beomgyu said, pouring the coins out onto the metal floor, wincing at the loud rattling noise. 

'Can I count too?' Taehyun asked, putting down his newspaper and joining Beomgyu, who was already picking out the five dollar notes. 

'Yeah, count the 10-cent coins. If you can't count that high then write the number down and continue counting. I'll add it up later,' Beomgyu said, noting the fact that Taehyun has had literally no formal education in his life.

'Hyung, how many did you sell? This seems like quite a lot,' Beomgyu said, fishing out a twenty from the mess. 

'The amount you gave me, plus a lot of people used it as a donation jar,' Soobin said, packing his backpack up and getting ready to leave again, taking the empty jar and his fire can. The can of inextinguishable fire that Yeonjun made them as a Christmas present the year before. He needed to keep warm out there, leaning against a warm window wasn't nearly enough. 

'Bye again,' Soobin said, opening the door of their shipping container with a loud creak and replacing it, with another loud creak.

Kai promptly fell asleep under the blankets after he stopped fidgeting. 

Beomgyu counted nearly _a hundred and a half_. That was an _insane_ amount for TXT. They usually got about six to ten dollars a day. Taehyun counted 56 10-cent coins. He was a quick learner, of course he did it all in one shot. Beomgyu seemed to still live in the time when Taehyun was learning how to count above ten. Beomgyu always seemed to be living in slow motion; maybe it was because he himself was very fast-paced. He did everything extremely quickly, seeming as though he actually _was_ living in slow motion and was purposefully doing everything quickly to make it look normal-paced. 

Pushing that aside, Kai was rudely awakened yet again by the obnoxiously loud creak of the door, a sudden warmth instead of icy December cold flooding the tiny living space. 

'Finally, you're home. Soobin took the fire again, so we're all getting cold. Maybe except Kai, he took all the blankets,' Beomgyu complained.

'woah, who did you rob?' Yeonjun asked, eyeing the pile of money on the floor. 'Nobody in their right mind would carry this many coins.'

'We didn't rob anyone. If Soobin's not joking, since it's Christmas a lot of people have been buying the sculptures. Last minute gifts and stuff like that. Apparently they also donate a lot, Christmas spirit of giving or something,' Beomgyu explained.

'...How much is all that?' Yeonjun asked.

'A hundred at forty-eight,' Taehyun said happily, knowing that this year he'll get fitting clothes. With no holes. And maybe a bit of higher quality food than stale bread, although Soobin was the one that ate the most bread. Taehyun stuck to fruitier things or other things, for some reason canned tomatoes were also on the list. 

This time, he hopefully could get some meat. He loved meat. Maybe it's the cat thing, but he seriously was getting bored of vegetables and fruits. And carbs. 

'A hundred and forty eight?; Yeonjun confirmed in shock. 'That's almost twice last Christmas.'

'I think Soobin parked himself in the little nook between the south and downtown districts. A mix of rich Downtowners and kind Southeners, it's a good placement; bound to get some nice profits. Soobin even came back to get a second bag, he ran out. I'll need to make more tonight,' Beomgyu said. 'Anyway, you have anything? If you don't that's okay,' Beomgyu stated.

'I got you guys some Christmas gifts! I played busker today. Sang Christmas carols on fourth street, got some real good money. Some kids even joined in after a while,' Yeonjun said, fumbling with his backpack. 

'Here's Taehyun's,' Yeonjun said, taking out a stick of something that smelled great.

'Cheese meatballs!! Thanks hyung!' Taehyun said happily. He loved cheese meatballs. He impulsively bought a stick a long time ago and he really liked them, but it was easier and cheaper to live off other things. 

'Kai, here you go,' Yeonjun said, flinging something in Kai's direction. Sleeping pills. Kai always had trouble sleeping because he was scared he would lose control of his powers when he's sleeping, and Kai's powers are the absolute WORST to lose control of. He's scared that will happen when he can't hold back at all, and even worse when nobody knows it's happening. 

Yeonjun hopes the pills will let the poor boy get some rest, and hopefully knock him out enough that he won't be able to lose control.

'oh my god, thanks so much hyung. I totally need this,' Kai said, voice muffled through the blankets, which he kicked off. Yeonjun was back, and that meant warmth. 

'Beomgyu, here's yours,' Yeonjun said, fishing something out of his bag. 

'Wow, thanks! This'll help me function SO much better. But aren't these SUPER expensive? How did you manage to get one?' Beomgyu asked, holding the necklace in his hands. Although the chain itself was likely some cheap metal, the necklace itself was super old-looking and completely out of style, a moon crystal was set into the middle. Similar to moonstone and often passed off as moonstone, moon crystal was a kind of magical essence, formed over years by a feldspar crystal exposed to the light at the surface. After a couple years, the crystal will turn to either a moon or sun crystal. It's nearly completely random, though some people say that moon crystals are more commonly found in colder countries, while sun crystals are commonly found in hot countries.

'I found it at a garage sale, they thought it was a moonstone as people do. I'm not telling the price, but I swear it wasn't much. They clearly wanted it gone, and since it looks so old nobody really wanted it. I saw that it was a moon crystal though, so I bought it. I wanted to give it to you because you work in the day and night. You don't seem to be able to absorb enough energy, and you rarely last till past three, so I bought you something that would at least help you get through the day, since I know you simply can't stop working,' Yeonjun explained. 

'Thanks so much. I'm getting tired of overdosing on coffee in the afternoon so I don't pass out,' Beomgyu said.

'You wouldn't pass out if you stopped overworking yourself,' Kai pointed out.

'I'm sorry, I just can't stop,' Beomgyu said apologetically.

'All good. But you should still take breaks,' Taehyun told him.

'I know, I know,' Beomgyu said, hating the nagging for him to stop working so much. Truth is, he uses his powers, which was similar to telekinesis, to manipulate the things around him, especially knitting needles. He knits in the day and makes clay sculptures from the clay deposits in the river at night. In fact, even now there was a pair of knitting needles knitting a blanket. Beomgyu doesn't only work to improve the lives of TXT, he works to improve the lives of everyone in their homeless district; all of TXT at least tries. 

'We're going on our summer trip next summer though, I swear I'll take a break then,' Beomgyu assured them. 

'You better. Anyway, it's Christmas already! We should celebrate,' Taehyun said happily. 

'It's snowing outside, by the way. If you'd like we could wait for a while and the snow should be sufficiently piled up, then we can go play in the snow, you want that?' Yeonjun asked the younger kids. 

'Yeah, sure,' Taehyun said. 

'Only if Beomgyu-hyung comes too,' Kai said. 

'Fine, I'll go too,' Beomgyu said.

'The knitting needles better be on the floor when you're outside,' Yeonjun said strictly.

'Alright. I do need a break,' Beomgyu said. 

'Yeah, you do,' Kai agreed, watching the needles add more colors of yarn. 'How do you even do that anyway?' Kai said, gesturing towards the knitting needles.

'What, knit? I can teach you,' Beomgyu said, picking up the spare needles and teaching Kai how to knit. Just how to knit first, patterns come in later.

He needed to have some form of entertainment, he shouldn't go out too much. He got... pretty famous, after he got turned in to the facility because he lost control and nearly killed half his school. He made it into the news, and although it has been a long, long time, he still might be recognized. They couldn't risk him getting thrown back in, or even worse get the whole group turned back in. 

He of course gets to walk around sometimes, never too far away from home, other than the summer trips in the South, and the autumn trips in the West. 

Beomgyu is the only one who can keep him under control. He even turned himself in to the facility to look after Kai. Beomgyu must always accompany Kai wherever he goes, just in case. 

...

It's quite curious, really. How TXT are homeless and live in a shipping container, but can live life so... happily. 

They go on holidays too, like their summer trips. Their summer trips are so fun. 

Soobin and Taehyun bring them back to their old forest home. They live just like how they did back then. They usually live there for a couple weeks, and then they go home to their shipping container when it gets chillier. 

Winters are kind of fun because they play in the snow. Yeonjun warms them all up, so the cold isn't that much of a problem. They get extra money on Christmas when everyone's buying gifts for friends and family. Soobin sells the clay sculptures, but thanks to Yeonjun's fire can it's not as bad. 

Spring is nice because the upper homeless district has many plants, and they all bloom so beautifully. They make many visits there, and the southern parks. Some days, the Gardens, a huge botanical paradise, has days where entry is free. They tend to spend some days there. 

Autumn is fun because of the pretty falling leaves. They tend to cross the city and spend time in the West, the mountains there give a wonderful view of the city, and the falling leaves in some parts are fun to play in. The animals are fun too. 

Generally, TXT is fine with living the way they do. 

* * *

**Group: STRAY KIDS**

Tbh they did nothing except fool around on Christmas, as they usually do.

They got presents and whatnot, and of course they made a lot of noise as usual. 

They nearly got kicked out of the apartment again, and Chan had to leave halfway through to talk to the landlord. 

[I really don't know what to write, I'm sorry.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy shiET i am experiencing a writer's block rn. TXT's long section was all prewritten. Short chapter but hEh better than nothing amirite?  
> Comment if you need any further explanations, I'll make extra chapters. QnA chapter, maybe?  
> I'm writing a story in this universe rn!! Excited :D  
> PLEASE I NEED REQUESTS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA  
> I NEED INSPIRATIONNNNNNNN


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> shua and taehyung birthday special  
> i did this way long ago  
> i never posted it  
> so here

_30th December 2019_

12:01 AM

THIRD PERSON: Taehyung focus

_Taehyung’s phone buzzed with many notifications— Probably about his birthday._

_He picked it up, watching his friends’ messages pop up._

_There was one he was waiting for._

He made friends with somebody online a few weeks prior. They both didn’t really know each other’s identity, but the other person knew his birthday. 

*Buzz*

*Incoming message from: **A little buddy***

_Face ID or Passcode to unlock Instagram_

Yes, they didn’t have each others’ numbers yet, so they communicated via Instagram DMs. 

_‘Hey! It’s your birthday today. Happy birthday! I hope you enjoy this special day. Have I ever told you that my birthday’s the same as yours? Cool, right? What a coincidence. Anyway, happy birthday!’_

_Typing…_

_What?_ Taehyung thought. _He shares a birthday with me?_

_‘Can we meet up one day? We’ve known each other for a month and a bit now. I’d like to get to know you in person! That would be nice. I wonder what you look like, you never seem to show your face in your posts. Do you want to?’_

‘Sure. When do you want to meet up?’ 

_‘Why not today? Then we can spend our birthday together.’_

‘Sounds fun.’

‘Hahaha, I’m actually scared to meet you.’

_‘Huh? Why?’_

‘What if you’re somebody I shouldn’t be talking to, or someone I know that I don’t quite like that much?’ 

_‘Well, I guess those feelings are unavoidable. And if I’m someone you shouldn’t be talking to, then I guess it’s better to end our friendship sooner than later, before we get too attached.’_

‘Yeah… I guess that’s right. What time would you like to meet? And where?’ 

_‘Maybe we can go visit the Gardens at night. They have all sorts of light shows and beautiful plants and stuff. They have different plants which grow in different seasons, and the winter ones look cool. They also have different sections for different regions.’_

‘I’ve always wanted to go there. I’ve seen pictures online. Looks cool!’ 

_‘Yeah, I’ve been there once when I was younger. I went with a couple friends. So, what time?’_

‘Night, right? Maybe eight or nine.’ 

_‘Okay… How are we going to recognize each other?’_

‘We can describe what we’re going to wear.’ 

_‘Okay, sure. I haven’t decided yet, but I’ll tell you when I get there.’_

‘Okay. I haven’t decided either, haha. Sorry, I have to go… I’m looking forward to seeing you!’ 

_‘Me too. Have a nice birthday!’_

‘You too. Still can’t believe we share a birthday— What are the chances, haha. Bye!’ 

_Taehyung lingered on their chat for a second._

**A little buddy**

🟢 Online

**A little buddy**

_last seen 12:08 AM_

He skimmed over the other birthday messages, smiling at the long ones full of sweet words just for him. 

He liked the ones which talked about things other than birthdays, like ones which apologized for things that happened in the past or something that he did which irritated the other. He could then use the feedback to improve. 

Some people didn’t say happy birthday at all. 

He respected that, maybe they had a tough day at work and deserved a good rest. Maybe they’ll send a happy birthday in the morning, maybe they won’t. 

He wondered who his internet buddy might be. 

Maybe he was just an average person. 

Maybe he was a criminal, maybe he was someone on the run.

Or maybe he was a powered person just like himself. 

Maybe he was all of the above. 

Taehyung was a vigilante, along with his friends, BTS. They’d won over the police a year or so ago, and because they were strong and good law enforcement, they were a great help to the police. 

They took care of many cases every day, mainly stopping people— The police did most of the investigations. 

Well actually, they also did a couple investigations. Namjoon was good at this sort of thing too. 

They were overworked— Really overworked. But to live, _powered_ , in _harmony_ with the government and police, that was a huge achievement, an amazing privilege. To keep that privilege, they needed to continue working for the police.

...It’s tiring. They get calls to help out with a ridiculous amount of cases. 

_Some of which include gangs, secret societies of powered people…_

BTS always struggles with those cases. 

They know how it feels to be ditched and abandoned due to their powers. 

It would be almost a betrayal of their own kind to turn in magical people for doing nothing at all, apart from simply _existing in the way they do._

**_+Taehyung: Character Understanding_ **

—

Taehyung knows a lot of these little societies. He knows quite a bit about the more powerful groups. For example, NCT, the group that just goes around adopting random powered kids off the streets to keep in a warehouse on the northwestern edge of the city, near to the mountainous area. They’re pretty powerful, but they don’t cause problems at all. They’re kind of like a chaotic homeless shelter. NCT and BTS have crossed paths a couple times, nothing more serious than seeing each other in a grocery store and trying to avoid eye contact. 

Seventeen, the group which wants everything to end but doesn’t seem to do anything about it. The honestly rather protective and hot-headed members tend to cause accidental trouble, and _they don’t seem to know how to fix the problems properly._ But they’re a pretty peaceful group other than that. Their paths have never crossed.

TXT, that little group that lives in the homeless district. Five extremely powerful kids on the run, one who cannot control himself _at all_ , who sadly is the most powerful. 

They cause all sorts of trouble, but it’s honestly not that bad. TXT just do what they gotta do. Their powers are a little problematic, though. They also vanish for some periods of time, nobody knows where they go. 

Taehyung also knows Stray kids, the group always on the run from the police. They go house-hopping and never stay in the same place for more than a year to evade capture. 

Well— They have very powerful members, other than their one human. Most of them start petitions for magical rights, trying to bring some sort of _change_ to the world of discrimination and hate they knew. 

They’re a peaceful group that only causes trouble when something endangers them— Which is a good thing, because they’re _way_ too powerful to handle. 

Ateez. Ateez aren’t the most dangerous, yet not the most _peaceful._

They’re kind of like the _pirates_ of the magical community.

They… aren’t quite afraid to use their powers. And they want more members, more members with _power._

Well, they haven’t been ‘on the hunt’, or whatever people say these days, for a while, but when they _are_ on the hunt, well, then there's a problem. 

They don’t tend to win people over by offering _friendship_ . It’s more like _force_ , _then_ friendship. 

The one thing that Taehyung’s concerned about— _What if they try to get TXT and Stray Kids?_

They’re too strong. They would be _nearly invincible_ if the three groups merge. 

But both groups tend to keep to themselves. A run-in between the groups would likely be in public, where Ateez can’t do anything. 

Itzy, another group— The girl group which has the power to do pretty much anything they’d like. They can all pretty much control themselves, and they have normal jobs and live like normal humans. They like it when they see people fighting for change, especially when it includes powered people. 

They are powerful and have a dragon—Yeji, one of the two known dragons in the whole continent. The other is Hyunjin of Stray Kids, and they’re said to look very, very similar. 

Maybe they’re long-lost siblings or cousins or something? 

Well, they’re one of the strongest groups around too, with an outstanding average **NRPS [number register power system]** point of 12.84. [very very high]

Dreamcatcher, the group that’s almost legendary. Almost never seen by the public eye, each situation including them seems to become a legend. 

They’re easily the most famous group in the city. 

Because of their extreme power, they can pop up in _any situation_ and it can be over in _seconds._

They’re popular everywhere and reading about them is very much like reading an action-fantasy book or a description of some top-notch MMORPG game. 

They never give any trouble to anyone, but there’s a rumor going around that they want to open a school for powered people who can’t control their powers, to teach them how to control it. 

...That’s pretty much all. 

**_+NCT: Group Understanding_ **

**_+TXT: Group Understanding_ **

**_+Ateez: Group Understanding_ **

**_+Dreamcatcher: Group Understanding_ **

**_+ITZY: Group Understanding_ **

**_Seventeen: Group Understanding_ **

**_Stray Kids: Group Understanding_ **

—

_The door to Taehyung’s room opened._

_Namjoon stumbled in, tripping over something by the door, fumbling with the light switch until the lights flicked on._

‘Oh, hey hyung. Is there a problem?’ Taehyung asked.

‘Ugh— Just got a call from the officers. You know, that dumb one we all don’t like?’ Namjoon explained.

‘Oh god, what does he want?’ Taehyung asked dreadfully. He really didn’t like this guy. 

‘He _still_ thinks we’d help out trying to hunt down powered kids which didn’t do anything,’ Namjoon said in frustration and disbelief.

‘Wow, you’d think he’d get the message that we don’t support this sort of thing. Who are they looking for?’ Taehyung asked. 

_Taehyung sat up, rubbing his eyes, squinting in the bright light._

‘Our friends Stray Kids seem to need help. The police broke into their house yesterday morning, only found one human in there. Guess what? It was Seungmin, they left him behind, don’t know if it was intentional or not. Stray Kids evacuated, and that dumb cop doesn’t seem to know that they’ve got one of the members,’ Namjoon said, smiling slightly at the dumbassery of the cop. 

_Namjoon sat down on the end of Taehyung’s bed._

‘Do you know where Stray Kids are?’ Taehyung asked.

‘Should be somewhere in the northeastern countryside,’ Namjoon replied. 

‘How’d they manage to get away?’ Taehyung asked, curious on how they did it. 

‘One of their twin flames has the ability to create massive amounts of darkness, like, he takes all the light away or something, I don’t know. He did that, and they used the darkness as a cover to escape. He blacked out the whole city,’ Namjoon explained, seemingly quite impressed.

‘Smart. How do they need help?’ Taehyung asked.

 _‘They’ve got almost the whole police department on their tail._ Because they used his ability to ‘cause disruption’ apparently they can use that to arrest them or something. It’s the dumbest rule— The police are the ones that caused them to use their magic, and now they can say it’s public disruption. _There’s no point locking them up._ They’re one of the most powerful groups _in the country_ ,’ Namjoon said angrily. 

‘Hyung… They’d be a lot less powerful separated. Take Jisung and Felix away from each other, and they lose a lot of power, since they need to be close to each other to use the twin flame power,’ Taehyung explained.

‘Tae, they still would have a _dark magic_ user _and_ a dragon. _And_ a spy. _And a barrier._ There’s no way they can keep them confined without using any kind of magic,’ Namjoon told him.

‘You’ve got a point there…’ Taehyung replied.

‘We need to stop the police… I’m telling you, people will only get hurt if they go after them. You know, some cops have no limits? _They’d use live ammunition. Stray Kids could get killed. The police would be hurt. Any scenario, someone would get hurt.’_ Namjoon said with some degree of urgency.

‘Okay. We need to stop the search. Or find them and protect them ourselves. I think that the police would listen to us… or at least, they’d listen to you,’ Taehyung said, noting that half the cops trust only Namjoon. 

‘Do you have any of their numbers or anything?’ Namjoon asked.

‘I have Felix’s Tiktok, I can DM him there… Or I could try Hyunjin’s Instagram… But he’s not online often anymore…’ Taehyung said.

‘...Try and contact them. Tell them that we offer protection… Tell them that we can stay with them for now and they’ll be better protected due to our closeness with the police,’ Namjoon instructed.

_Taehyung picked up his phone, opening Tiktok._

_@felixsunshine00_

_🟢_ **_online_ **

‘Felix is online now… Should I text him?’ Taehyung asked.

‘Sure. What is he doing online at 12?’ Namjoon asked.

‘Who knows…’ 

_.._

_‘Hi. I’m Taehyung from BTS.’ (V)_

_‘Do you guys need help? We’re offering protection from the police.’ (V)_

_Typing…_

_‘At what price?’ (FX)_

_‘Nothing.’ (V)_

_‘Why would you offer protection from the police for free?’ (FX)_

_‘You’re working for them.’ (FX)_

_‘I don’t like helping them out in this sort of situation.’ (V)_

_‘In fact, I’d like to blatantly state my disapproval.’ (V)_

_‘I don’t want anything to do with that department.’ (V)_

_‘...I still don’t trust you enough.’ (FX)_

_‘We can talk more, then you’ll know you can trust me.’ (V)_

_‘I don’t have the time.’ (FX)_

_‘Look, I don’t want anyone to get hurt… I don’t want the police to hurt you.’ (V)_

_‘We’re strong enough to defend ourselves.’ (FX)_

_‘Even so, there’s no way you guys won’t get hurt or hurt the police. I’m on no side right now, all I want is to stop the fight before it happens.’ (V)_

_‘What makes you so sure we’ll be found?’ (FX)_

_‘I don’t know, tracking devices, search parties… Anything. They think you’re dangerous and they want to lock you guys back up.’ (V)_

_‘Tracking devices?’ (FX)_

_‘Some people have trackers… Our maknae had a tracker stuck in him for the longest time. Stuck inside him. Or the tracker in the teddy bear we got from the police.’ (V)_

_‘Inside him?’ (FX)_

_‘They cut him open and put it in.’ (V)_

_‘That’s so twisted.’ (FX)_

_‘That’s what happens when you fail to escape. But it’s almost like a trophy. It shows that he’s powerful enough that the people are scared of him breaching security.’ (V)_

_‘Now I’m kind of scared.’ (FX)_

_‘Want our help now?’ (V)_

_‘...I need time to think. I’ll get back to you in the morning.’ (FX)_

_‘I would say take your time, but please get back to us before noon tomorrow… We need to know if we should make space in our schedule.’ (V)_

_‘Okay. Good night.’ (FX)_

_‘Good night, Felix!’ (V)_

_.._

‘He said he wants to think about it. He’ll tell us by tomorrow morning,’ Taehyung said. 

‘Good,’ Namjoon said. 

‘Happy birthday, by the way,’ Namjoon said with a smile, patting his shoulders. 

‘Thanks, hyung,’ Taehyung said, smiling as well.

‘You should get some rest,’ Namjoon told him. It was 12:24 already.

‘Haha, yeah… Good night, hyung,’ Taehyung said.

_Namjoon left the room, glancing back at Taehyung with a smile. He flicked off the light as he left._

_Taehyung put his phone down on the nightstand, stretching out on his bed. He rolled over, staring at his cream-colored wall._

_There were a lot of things to do the next day._

_Check in with Felix to see if he made up his mind…_

_Go see his online friend…_

_Celebrate with the members…_

_Yeah. A lot._

_And perhaps answer some calls._

_What he wanted was just a well deserved break._

**_TAEHYUNG + FELIX Relationship Status: -1 (distrust)_ **

**_Taehyung Mental health status: -4 [STRESS]_ **

**_+Facility Business Understanding_ **

**_+Police Understanding_ **

_————————_

**_Scenario Seven_ **

_30th December 2019_

_6:30 PM_

JOSHUA POV

_I checked our chat for the twenty-first time today._

_‘Hey, 8:30 okay?’_

‘Sure.’ 

‘See you there.’ 

_Why did I suggest this?_

_What if he was a trap?_

_I could almost imagine a faceless man, sitting down on a bed. Texting me._

_‘Oh, he has no idea what he got himself into.’_

_‘Nighttime at the gardens? Ha. Better for me, there’ll be no one around.’_

_‘Haha, he trusts me enough to ask me out for a little friend-date!’_

_‘Let’s see how quickly I can break that trust.’_

_Getting up._

_Grabbing weapons._

_Shoving them into a backpack._

_Wearing a mask._

_A little chuckle._

_‘He has no idea what’s coming for him.’_

_Slam. Door shut._

_Flash to gardens._

_A secluded area. Nobody around._

_On a hill, above a waterfall… A steep drop below._

_I could envision the mystery man behind me, snapping my neck…_

_Throwing me off the top of the hill…_

_Landed in the rocky shallows, limp and broken. Eyes wide open, seeing nothing._

_Slowly washed further and further down by the strong current, made by the churning water, getting caught by a rock._

_No._

_This man—_

_He’s… Trustworthy…_

_He’s honest._

_But… But, silly Joshua, how would you know?_

_All he ever was… Was just an online friend._

_He could be anyone._

_He could even be someone from the facility._

_The police, armed with a gun._

_He could be a hitman._

_He could be after Seventeen._

_He could force information out of me._

_Because my stupid breaking point is so low._

_God, do I need to be so freaking_ **_nervous_ ** _over a simple meet-up?_

_Not… not everyone tries to kill you on sight._

_Not everyone wants your death._

_Not everyone spends months of careful planning and trust gain to hurt you._

_But there’ll always be someone._

_I hope not him._

_I can’t leave just yet. I shouldn’t leave just yet._

_I can’t leave them—_

_But who the hell am I to decide what happens to me?_

_I’m just a mere human being. With no. Control._

‘Uh… Hyung, are you okay?’

_Huh?_

_What… What’s that?_

_Who’s there?_

I opened my eyes. 

_When did I close them?_

I took my head out of my hands. 

_When did I put my face in my hands..?_

_Jihoon?_

_When did he come here?_

‘...You didn’t look so good. I was just checking on you… are you okay?’ Jihoon asked.

‘Why didn’t I look okay? Like… What led you to that conclusion?’ I asked.

‘Well… you were breathing really quickly and you didn’t respond to anything… you looked like you were in pain too…’ Jihoon said, staring down at the table.

‘... thanks for asking if I was alright,’ I said gratefully.

‘But… You didn’t answer me. Are you okay..?’ Jihoon asked worriedly, looking back up at me.. 

‘Kind of,’ I said.

‘What’s bothering you?’ Jihoon asked.

‘Just anxious to meet someone. I’m a little scared… I don’t know his true identity. What if he’s a bad person? What should I do? Should I go or not go?’ I asked.

‘I don’t know what to do I’m so bad at making decisions,’ I groaned, burying my face in my hands again.

‘Hey, hey, it’s okay. When do you need to go see this person?’ Jihoon asked.

‘We agreed to meet at 8:30…’ I said, face still in his hands.

‘Where?’ Jihoon asked. 

‘In the gardens,’ I said.

‘Hyung… If you feel like something’s wrong… Tell me what’s going on. I’ll go over, okay? I won’t let the person hurt you. Just tell me and I’ll be there, okay? But Jeonghan will definitely beat me to it once he gets the emergency signal. I’ll get him to bring me too, if he doesn’t vanish on the spot,’ Jihoon said protectively.

‘...okay,’ I replied thankfully. Having overprotective friends was a good thing sometimes. 

_The other person also told me he was scared to meet me…_

_That means he thinks_ I’m _the danger… Which would tell me he’s not dangerous…_

_But anything could be a trap._

_I told him that the feelings are unavoidable and if we shouldn’t be talking, we should break it off sooner rather than later._

_Why can’t I take my own advice..?_

  
  


_This is so frustrating._

**_+Joshua Character Understanding_ **

_~_ **_Time Skip~_ **

**_8:24 PM_ **

_‘I’m wearing an olive green coat with a big brown scarf. I’m at the, uh, big tree, where are you?’_

Well, at home. 

I asked Jeonghan if he could teleport me over, he said sure, why not. 

So, time to look for Jeonghan… 

‘Joshua, you ready to go see your friend?’ Jeonghan asked, putting on a simple jacket as he hopped down the stairs of the second half of the house.

‘Yeah, okay…’ Joshua said, slowly walking down the opposite stairs, all winter dressed up.

‘Where am I going again?’ Jeonghan said, bouncing up the opposite side and walking with Joshua down.

‘As close as you can to the gardens,’ Joshua told him, trying not to think.

‘Okay… Hold on,’ Jeonghan instructed.

  
  


He held out an arm and I held on to it. 

Suddenly, everything seemed to swirl rapidly, and the colors changed from the colorful living room to a dark gray alleyway. 

‘The garden’s on the other side of this stone wall. Tell me if you want me to come pick you up,’ Jeonghan said.

‘Okay, thanks a lot Jeonghan,’ I said gratefully.

‘No problem, it literally took like ten seconds of my life,’ Jeonghan said with a chuckle.

‘And that ten seconds saved me half an hour, thanks a lot,’ I thanked him again.

‘Okay, go on, enjoy yourself,’ Jeonghan said, before swirling off again, presumably back home.

I opened the chat again. 

_‘Hey, I just arrived. I’m wearing a brown coat with an orange turtleneck, I’m going to go find you now.’_

He said he was at the big tree.

There was one big tree lit up by pink lights— Must be that one, it’s a huge, huge tree. Must be _the_ big tree. 

There was a person leaning against the tree, wearing an olive green coat and a big scarf that honestly looked like a skinny blanket. 

_Hmm… One of the BTS boys._

_He’s safe then. BTS would never turn in a magical person for no reason._

_Anyway, I think he’s the one that knows a lot about other groups._

_He’ll know me._

_I don’t know if that’s good or not._

I walked up to him, head lowered— I’m scared for his reaction. 

‘Hello! Are you the person I’ve been texting..?’ He asked.

_His voice is very unique._

_It’s nice and easy to listen to._

‘Yeah…’ I said nervously.

‘Aw, why do you sound so scared..? I’m not going to hurt you,’ he said, trying to sound comforting.

I looked up, just to look at him, not raising my head. 

He’s smiling at me. 

Even his smile is unique. It’s sort of rectangular. 

So, this guy is just unique. I like that about him. He’s very different. 

‘Sorry… I was just scared to see how you’ll react to me,’ I told him.

‘Why? Am I scary..? Do I look mean?’ He asked worriedly.

‘Haha, no, it’s just… _You’re a vigilante._ Everyone knows you… If you were me, would you be nervous?’ I said.

‘Hmmm…. To be honest, not really, unless I was an established criminal. Then I’d be scared,’ he told me.

‘You’re not right?’ 

‘Wait a sec. Can you look up?’ He said worriedly.

I looked up. 

_Why? I don’t need to listen to him._

_Well. He would be able to see me._

‘Ah. At least you’re not the most problematic,’ Taehyung said. ‘Honestly, I wasn’t expecting my internet buddy to be you.’

‘Same here.’ I said, being totally genuine.

‘Your group’s really cool,’ he told me, giving me that adorable rectangle boxy smile.

‘Thanks! Yours is too. You guys use your powers to help other people, I really respect that,’ I told him.

_Finally. Someone calls Seventeen a group, not a gang._

‘...And thanks for calling us a group. I prefer group to gang. Thanks.’ I said shyly.

‘Oh! Uh, you’re welcome ?’ He questioned.

‘So, you wanna explore the gardens? I know a bit of it, but I don’t really know most of it. We didn’t stick around for long when we came here together,’ I asked him.

‘Okay, let’s go~’ he said happily. 

_He sort of skipped forwards, stopping for a while and looking back at me._

_He smiled again, and I quickened my pace a little, catching up._

_He seemed to have an eye for the littlest things, and had a great talent for photography. He took a couple photos, and they all were stunningly beautiful. The placement of each and every component of the picture seemed to be perfect._

_He sent me some of the photos._

_We walked down the winding road together, pointing out things we found interesting._

_At one point, we stumbled across a pond. Its surface was slightly frozen, only at the edges. There was a really pretty circle bridge over the pond._

_He asked me to stand there and look to the side a bit while resting my hands on the stone railing._

_It started snowing at the perfect moment— The picture was honestly beautiful._

_There were pretty swirls of snow in the picture, everything illuminated by the colorful lights._

_And in the background was a waterfall with a short fence around the top— You could climb onto the hill that the water came from._

_It was_ that _waterfall._

‘Hey, Joshua, you didn’t tell me— What’s your power?’ Taehyung asked me.

‘Mine’s… Mania. That’s what they call it,’ I told him, blindly trusting him. We’ve known each other in person for like an hour, yet I trust him with this.

‘Cool, what does it do?’ He asked.

‘It basically increases all my stats except self control. Speed, defense, everything. Stamina too. Also, it seems to use, like, a different side of me? I won’t really know what’s happening, I’ll just have a vague idea. But I seem to actually _think_ as well..? Weird, I know. But I apparently use strategies and know which people I can hurt and which ones I shouldn’t, and when I should surrender, what battles there’s no point fighting. Kind of weird,’ I said. I had little understanding of my own power.

‘That’s a pretty unique power. It seems really… Interesting. I’ve never really heard of it until now. I’ve never heard of anything that causes the user to lose self awareness but _also_ able to distinguish allies from enemies. That’s so odd,’ Taehyung said thoughtfully, not judging at all.

‘What’s yours?’ I asked curiously.

‘Mine’s Crescent Slash. Simple power. Just throw these sharp crescent shaped things around, they can cut people. It’s a full attack skill. But, if I’m with my best friend we can merge our power and boom, much more powerful. It’s honestly pretty cool, it’s quite rare for twin flame powers to consist of two strong powers. Usually it’s two weak powers become strong. But for us its two strong powers become even stronger. But it merges. A rare kind. Called ‘Merge Twins’. Most twin flames are ‘Opposites attract’ and they’re one moon, one sun, powers completely different and they become totally different but the same. It’s so hard to explain twin flame powers. I’ll just use Stray Kids’ twin flames for an example. Both of them are really weak. One has Shadow Blend, he can become nearly invisible in the shade. The other glows. Together, the shadow blend guy can turn darkness into matter and spawn huge clouds of it, and can suffocate people with it, _and he can fly on the darkness._ Like he just walks on it like it’s solid. The glowing guy turns light into matter, and can do the exact same thing to light,’ Taehyung explained

‘Woah, so they’re similar and different. Cool.’ 

‘I’ve never met someone with really rare powers before. Not until now, I guess,’ I said.

‘Just make friends with Stray Kids. That group… Record number of rarities. There’s that twin flame pairing, one of the two last dragons on the continent, last five in the _world_ , _and_ a dark magic user,’ Taehyung told me.

‘Okay… Sure. I guess,’ I said.

‘It’d be a little unwise to go befriend them _now,_ they’re on the run _again._ I went to go see them earlier today, tell them what’s going on, station someone to watch over them all the time. I mean, you could always go visit, but it’d just be putting yourself in danger,’ Taehyung said.

‘Okay then…’ I replied.

‘You can always contact them via instagram or tiktok, _someone_ ’s always online,’ he said.

‘Thanks for telling me.’

_thoughtful silence_

‘You know, I’ve never had friends outside of my group before,’ I confessed.

‘This is a totally new experience for me… But I like it. I like making new friends, but it’s hard to make friends… My group members are a little… protective. It’s hard to learn to trust people other than them,’ I said with a light laugh.

‘Same here. I’m glad we can both work out trust issues together, if that makes sense,’ he said, laughing a little as well. 

**_SVT + BTS_ **

**_Relationship status: +3_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heh uh yeah that wild, i'll post a power list sometime soon. im gettoing lazy, and im also working on a project very important to me. :)

**Author's Note:**

> I chose the name ‘Scenario Indigo’ because the color Indigo symbolises devotion. Blue and Black, the colors that make up indigo, mean imagination and mystery respectively, among many other meanings. This whole universe came up in my imagination one day. The scenarios are here in an unfixed pattern, just random things I felt like writing, so what the next chapter will be about is a mystery. 
> 
> Essentially, the meaning behind the name is that I am very devoted to this series, giving you fresh scenarios to enjoy in a pattern that what the next chapter will be about is always be a mystery, in a universe created by my imagination.


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